


Fumes

by KASPIAN (orphan_account)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Humor, M/M, Romance, Sexual Tension, Smut, mentioned mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 19:22:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16604018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/KASPIAN
Summary: Jongin is a purebred alpha, and Kyungsoo, the undercover omega, has a big fat crush on him.





	1. YOU'RE A BOTTOM BITCH

 

Kyungsoo is a relatively new here at the college, having been here for just a month or so.

Nineteen years old – studying economics. Had a Sabbath year before attending. Seen a little bit of everything and nothing.

In college, he meets many different people. Tall, lanky, chubby, short, et cetera. He isn’t surprised to meet the odd number of peculiar looking peers one can find around the campus.

Yet this is the first time he sees  _ that  _ rumored alpha dude who people seem to talk about every now and then.

When he does, he stops in his tracks and blinks owlishly before skirting over to his seat in the cafeteria, settling between his friends. His eyes linger on the back of the person that can only be the ‘stud’ dude.

There will always be noticeable individuals around who draw a lot of attention to themselves for different reasons. Nevertheless, this one takes the cake.

This person is presumably the infamous guy named Jongin, who goes by the nickname Kai – one a rookie like Kyungsoo can’t refrain from hearing about, among other jocks or attractive or remarkable individuals around town.

It’s not that Jongin should be outstanding, but given his reputation and all the rumors about what he does in his free time, it can’t be helped.

From the moment Kyungsoo heard the name for the first time, he knew he should have backed off immediately. 

Because he's attracted to  _ those _ types – a trait he loathes, but can’t shake off. It’s not like he dates thugs or goes out robbing banks, filling his lungs with bad choices and things alike, but there is something about bad boy attitudes that allure him, leaving him curious for what’s beneath - and he’s most likely not the only one.

The funny thing about it is that he has never been with anyone before anyway, but has always kept himself at a distance to lure at the ones he occasionally crushes on.

And Jongin is told to be a bad boy, but only when he’s provoked.

He’s told to have an  _ eccentric _ vocabulary, and curses enough to make sailors blush. Studies economics too, is well-spoken when he wishes to be, and is in the midst of his third year here - known for having gotten into a few fights every now and then for unknown reasons. 

Twenty-one years old. A one-night lure who gets what he wants due to his bedroom eyes, lean body and unctuous smile. Apparently, he’s never knotted anyone despite girls or boys having attempted to leech it out of him, although he doesn’t seem to be an easy lay. He’s told to be rude sometimes, but also helpful to others - it differs from person to person. Not to mention that he’s a purebred alpha – and he reeks authority but not the controlling kind.

What gives him away is his appearance though.

Down his arms, along his shoulders, collarbones and up to his jawline around his neck he has black tattoos etched into his skin in varied designs. They snake down and halt at his knuckles as letters are scribbled there instead. 

He has a snake bite piercing, along with a septum – and probably more than two studs in each ear but not stretch. He has silver blond hair and an undercut - he has a good height and a straight stance; probably from the kickboxing he is told to do in his free time.

He might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but definitely a certain one’s.

Kyungsoo slumps down lower on his seat from where he is sitting, stabbing the food on his plate with a fork. He swallows the food with not enough vigor.

‘’So that’s Kai?’’ he murmurs to no one in particular. Baekhyun besides him notices it and looks back at him with an uninterested glare.

‘’That dude?’’ he chortles and leans back in his chair. ‘’What – you’re interested?’’

Kyungsoo nearly chokes on a piece of meat. ‘’I never said that…’’

Baekhyun looks him over, a knowing smile present on his lips. ‘’Forget it, man. I know I’ve told you some stories about him, but he’s not  _ that _ much of an easy lay.’’

Baekhyun is a beta, but not an impressive one in Kyungsoo’s eyes, at least. Smug bastard. He happens to be one of his best friends though – a second year student.

Kyungsoo grumbles something unintelligible, avoiding Baekhyun’s glare.

‘’Like you’d do any better getting a lay out of Taeyeon,’’ he retorts though, and this time Baekhyun is the one who whines. Taeyeon is some third year student that Baekhyun glorifies in his free time, an alpha with a calm personality but rumored ferocious attitude once provoked.

Kyungsoo is well aware that Baekhyun has had vivid dreams about Taeyeon dominating him (or so he says, but instead he jumps around an alpha named Minseok like a lovesick puppy) – Kyungsoo does not need to hear pity from him, thank you very much.

Jongdae comes forth and makes a satisfied harrumph once sitting. ‘’Sup losers,’’ he greets with a nod, and both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are riled up from the previous conversation – answering with a sullen ‘’hey’’.

‘’What’s cookin’ good looking?’’ Jongdae then probes at Kyungsoo’s arm and Kyungsoo cracks a skewed smile at this. Baekhyun answers for him though, bidding in with a: ‘’Kyungsoo here is just sour because he found out that the Kai dude is hot as fuck.’’

‘’Kai, you say?’’ Jongdae repeats, glancing around until he finds the person in question. A smirk spreads on his lips. ‘’He’s got nothing on me. I bet my cock’s bigger than his anyway.’’

Baekhyun laughs, and Kyungsoo juts his lower lip out in a pout.

‘’What would you want from him anyway? He’s literally unapproachable if you’re not a part of the inner-circle.’’ Jongdae leans forward and snatches a tomato from Kyungsoo’s plate.

‘’He wants his knot, probably,’’ Baekhyun answers again. Kyungsoo’s eyes bulge out and he splutters, leaning forward to flick Baekhyun on the forehead.

Baekhyun grins obnoxiously loud although he yowls once he’s hit.

‘’Well I  _ don’t _ – but all right, I’m an alpha so it doesn’t count. My fair prince Junmyeon casts Kai twinkly eyes once the dude walks past. Fucker knows he’s got the power, probably,’’ Jongdae drawls as if he’s uninterested, scowling slightly but in a playful way.

All the while, Kyungsoo’s cheeks are fuming until his ears are red at the peak. He contributes with the occasional ’ _ No I don’ts _ ’ and ‘ _ Stop’s _ , but Jongdae and Baekhyun ramble on with the teasing. Yixing sits there too, but he is too occupied with reading a colorful comic book.

‘’Biologically speaking, Kyungsoo shouldn’t need the instinctual urge to be knotted given that he’s a beta – only if it is out of a pure lust-drive… but then the alpha needs to be in a rut,’’ he cuts them off with a light voice, and the others stop talking.

‘’Oh,’’ Baekhyun and Jongdae say.

Kyungsoo nods furiously.

Yet that is only a small part of the truth. Yixing, who is a childhood friend from the same city as Kyungsoo, is too nice to reveal the true deal but he budges to make them stop the teasing.

In reality, Kyungsoo is an omega, but ever since he matured, he has kept himself on suppressants that only a few omegas choose to take. The suppressants hide his omega pheromones and make him neutral like a beta, although he will have the occasional heats every third or second month and hide away.

It’s not that being an omega is a shameful title at all, but to Kyungsoo it had come as a shock. Because Kyungsoo is anything but submissive in most cases, though he yearns for someone to dominate him. No one has been lucky enough yet, even though he has tried around here and there (or so he thinks). He mostly seeks his truced mate, who he is unlikely to meet if he has to be realistic, according to the norms. 

Given his headstrongness, his temper tantrums and dangerous headlocks, no one could really see him as an omega back then when he turned – and he did not want to disappoint. 

A beta is what he takes form as in the public eye for now, and has done ever since he turned fifteen.

Kyungsoo tucks the images of Jongin away in his mind, thinking that it’s just  _ another _ case of puppy love reeving though his mind. He might just burn up from all the pent up frustration he has kept inside, considering he has been on omega suppressants for god knows how long - increasing his desire to bend over for every alpha that comes forth.

Most omegas have their first round in the dust and are match-marked for their heat to be taken care of once they mature; for the sake of sating the vivid amount of pheromones that they give off during the first heat.

Kyungsoo has not been through that, and he knows it will eventually come back and bite him in the ass.

Fall comes forth and this is where college proves to be difficult once smaller exams turn up unexpectedly, making Kyungsoo do all-nighters too often since he is not used to the degree of essays and homework given.

His roomie is Baekhyun too, and Baekhyun, being in his second year, is much more efficient – but is also somehow a slacker.

The difference is that he has the guts and knowledge to improvise during class, meaning he rarely ever does his homework and instead spends his time giving Kyungsoo tempting offers about going to pubs and playing video games.

What nags Kyungsoo the most though is that ever since he saw Jongin for the first time, he has begun to see him everywhere. 

The college itself is big and there are tons of students, yet it seems fate wants Kyungsoo to suffer – because every time he rounds the next corner or finds a seat in the cafeteria, his eyes automatically dart to Jongin,  _ just because _ .

He doesn’t mean to be a stalker or to ogle Jongin, but no matter how many times he changes his routes he always notices the alpha sit somewhere. Yet it makes sense, because they study the same line but in different years, so their schedules are most likely the same in some aspects. 

He notices these small things about Jongin.

Like how Jongin always sits back, looking aloof, but occasionally comes forth with small comments, arching a brow if he is amused – lips drawn in menace if he is unsated, somewhat moody.

Kyungsoo  _ hates _ it, and he hates how his eyes always dart  _ that  _ way, down those biceps to inspect the tattoos, idly wondering if they stop at the V-neck of his shirt or go further.

One day, Kyungsoo is sitting in one of the study lounges reading one of his recent essays when he hears the chatter of some beta named Taemin, a dancer, who also happens to be fairly well known. He talks about something cheeky that makes Jongin laugh, sitting further away from where Kyungsoo is.

Kyungsoo intends to focus on his pages, and he does his best to do so, but then he hears Jongin talk back – all he can strain his consciousness to listen to is that timbre tune filling his ears. 

A sudden jolt of warmth sparks down his spine and makes him abruptly stand straight, nearly knocking the table over in the process.

Since he’s on suppressants - that reaction is not supposed to happen.

So he panics.

The action makes the others in the room look at him, and he dares not look towards Jongin’s direction as he gathers his books and runs out of the lounge in a whisk. 

He feels a strict glare bore into his back as he leaves, warmth swirling in his gut.

Nevertheless, that is not the first time it happens. A month and a half has passed now since he has come to ‘meet’ the infamous male, and Kyungsoo lives in fright of the change in his stomach.

Sometimes, whenever Baekhyun mentions Jongin’s name, Kyungsoo feels that odd ache in his stomach again and he gets all fuzzy and fists, which only makes Baekhyun even more amused.

He thinks he might just drop dead when he comes to one of the newer shared classes one day, only to be met by familiar icy eyes once he treads into the room. Jongin sits on the first row with a hand propped onto his palm, looking indifferent.

Kyungsoo hates that he’s so  _ obvious _ – the way he halts in the door and gapes slightly, hand threaded in his hair as he attempts to tame one of his wild cowlicks from some earlier napping.

He gulps and rips his eyes away from the other male, dashing up the banter seats to sit on one of the rows that are far behind – the furthest away from Jongin he can get. If he notices the way a gaze burns into his shoulder blades on his way up, he doesn’t turn around to confirm it.

It turns out that Jongin is rather indifferent in class too. He only contributes with answers if everyone is quiet and no one wants to compromise, languidly raising his hand to answer with a drawl and husky tone, never wrong but not perfectly right either, given his vulgar language that makes the teacher shush at him when he goes too far.

It creeps Kyungsoo out that he knows so much about Jongin without ever having talked to him, but rumors and gossip are source materials he hungrily latches to him if it revolves around the latter.

After class, he staggers out to one of the vending machines and stands before it for a few couple of minutes, contemplating what to choose. He swears he has gotten too many knots in his back from being so tense in the alpha’s presence – he can barely concentrate, honestly.

‘’Pomegranate Ice tea is good,’’ he hears a voice next to him, and he nearly swallows his own tongue because he  _ recognizes that voice _ .

His eyes flicker to the person next to him, and the first thing he sees is black swirly tattoos etched into tan, taut biceps – resulting he quickly stares back again at the machine, breath kept in his throat.

‘’Y-yeah?’’ he answers, and he internally weeps because his voice did  _ not _ just crack like some preteen.

‘’I’ll- I’ll take that one then,’’ he murmurs and presses one of the buttons, nearly missing it due to how much his hands are shaking. The warm sensation from before returns to his gut, and he swears his stomach should not be doing that. He’s on suppressants!

The machine does a whirring noise after he has paid, and a lolling sound resounds within the walls, but nothing comes out.

Kyungsoo blinks his eyes and takes a slight step backwards. ‘’Uh,’’ he intelligently offers, still not daring to look at the male beside him. 

He absentmindedly notices how he only reaches a bit past Jongin’s shoulders in height – so if he has to look him in the eyes, he will have to crane his neck and look up.

He is brought out of his haze when a hand emerges in front of him, a fist slamming onto the front of the machine in a harsh movement. The machine whirs again and a clank comes when the drink flops down into the little bowl.

Kyungsoo reads the letters on the front of the fingers – ‘H O M E’ it says.

The hand withdraws again and this time Kyungsoo follows it with his eyes, turning to look up at Jongin.

If Jongin had looked handsome from a distance, he sure is a heart-killer on a firsthand experience. The alpha has his mouth a little agape, tongue darting out to wet his lower lip-  _ shit _ \- he has a tongue piercing too-

Kyungsoo’s lower lip trembles and heat sizzles in the bend of his knees when he sees something reminding of an amused smirk on Jongin’s lips. He whips himself out of the trance and takes the drink, almost knocking his head into the machine.

‘’Thank--‘’ he murmurs, ‘’you….’’ pressing his eyes shut because oh  _ no _ \- he’s acting like some shy preteen interacting with their crush. He’s usually known for being direct, but now he’s anything but.

Before Jongin can answer, Kyungsoo turns around and run-walks out of sight, throwing wide-eyed looks over his shoulder at least three times to see how Jongin stares at him all the way down.

_ Shit, shit, shit  _ – he  _ doesn’t _ need to know what hides underneath that loose cotton shirt, no, he  _ doesn’t _ , even if his omega is yowling and he’s got a hungry feeling aching around in his gut. He holds the bottle of cold ice tea against his chest while leaning into his dorm door, heart thudding madly behind his ribcage.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s Jongin’s fault for looking so good with his loose basic t-shirts and V-necks, his jeans and trashy sneakers and fucking beanies.

‘’You okay, man?’’ Baekhyun is in the room, lazing on his bed – brows furrowed.

Kyungsoo wheezes and throws the bottle on his bed, wandering around in the little room before flumping down onto his bed.

‘’I can help you hide the body?’’ Baekhyun then offers, almost a little too seriously, and Kyungsoo groans. ‘’It’s not that... it’s not that... I just…. Met Jongin. Fuck. I met Jongin. He talked to me, Baek!’’ He raises himself and stares at Baekhyun with wide eyes. ‘’He talked to me!’’

Baekhyun hunches his head back, creating a fake double chin. Always so petite with his expressions.

‘’Pictures or it didn’t happen.’’

‘’Fuck you,’’ Kyungsoo hauls a pillow at him.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyungsoo officially wants to die.

He’s honestly come to have a good time, and this is what happens.

Jongin is clad in loose shorts, revealing his long legs and bit of his thighs, and is wearing yet another V-neck while the back of his hair is pushed up in a little ponytail just above the undercut. 

‘’I didn’t know you’d like dancing, Kyungsoo!’’ Junmyeon looks pleased and gives Kyungsoo one of his famous fairy smiles that emanates rainbows and eternal happiness and rightful demeanor.

‘’Yeah, I didn’t know either,’’ Jongdae says behind him, and his eyes are saying  _ touch-my-man-and-I'll-do-horrible-things-to-your-firstborn  _ like he sometimes does when Junmyeon praises others.

Kyungsoo wants to take it all back. ‘’I-‘’ he tries, but Junmyeon pets his back and gives him a shove to make him tread over to the flock of attendances.

Kyungsoo likes dancing, that’s true. He’s good at it too - took some classes when he was younger, so when he heard that the college has a performer club wherein dancing is a subject, he had been head-over heels at the thought of joining the trials.

However, Jongin is there too, and he’s one of the head-members who takes part in creating the choreography for the musicals and things alike – as in one of the best dancers. Nobody has told Kyungsoo that Jongin can dance too, but maybe that is a matter of fact to know.

However, when they all get started, it is not as bad as Kyungsoo has thought. There are many students there anyway, most average but some good, so he can easily blend in between the crowd. Yet he knows that they don’t take in just about anyone, meaning he has to show off too.

Jongin stands in front of the mirrors and looks around, and he shows them some basic steps for a simple dance. Kyungsoo keeps his eyes on the female instructor instead because there is no way if he would like to let a third member join in right now.

The dance is easy to Kyungsoo and he gets it after a third try. He isn’t so tall, but he has a lithe body and limbs that know what they’re doing. When he gets the hang of the dance, he does it animatedly, eyes shortly flickering over to eye Jongin’s ass closely just for a second or two. That is one  _ good  _ ass,  **okay** .

The room suddenly feels hot and he has to stop amidst it to go grab his water bottle. He is not going to be accepted if he keeps taking breaks, he knows.

The air is still snug around him and the insides of his stomach churn. That strange heat returns to pool there and he can feel how a wave of warmth comes over him. ‘’Not now...,’’ he pants, taking another swig before screwing the cap shut. He holds a hand against his stomach and idly wonders what is going on.

When he glances over his shoulder, he hunches up because Jongin is looking  _ into his soul _ , even though he is still instructing the others, judging the new lot.

Kyungsoo’s chest feels full with the amount of air he inhales when he looks away again. Another wave makes him shudder and he shuts his eyes, shaking his head.

Now the attendances have to do an individual dance each, either the one they were instructed to do or one they can perform themselves. They have to perform for the rest, and Kyungsoo is luckily not the first one.

He gets a little envious since some of them are good and clearly know what to do to impress the instructors.

Later, he steps into the center when it is his turn, shortly thinking about which dance he wants to show off. Contrary to the most, he chooses a smooth and quiet song, one with a sensual undertone, but just barely.

Last time he danced has been more than a year ago when high school ended. Once he took a Sabbath year, he laid off the dancing.

He knows this dance though, knows it as well as knows his own body from immense training.

Therefore, he stands with his back straight and goes into position.

He starts with slow, fluent motions – mellowing into soothing sways of his hips and a hand travelling from his hip to his chest, chest heaving up to meet his palm. It’s rusty at first but gradually becomes better and then good. It’s a mix between hip-hop and jazz, although jazz is the primary motive within the moves.

It continues for a few minutes, but he knows he impresses them, and is naughty enough to roll his hips and do some body waves just before ending.

Being done, he gets an applause from the instructors, all except Jongin, who Kyungsoo refrains from looking at.

Instead, it is as if warmth collects down in his feet and travels upwards and into his thighs, feeling like it comes from the ground and an external source within the room.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been a little more than two months since he first saw Jongin, and he can officially state he has a serious problem. A serious crush. 

 

… In addition, he has pulled an all-nighter for an essay today.

His feet feel heavier than the usual, and the break during autumn was not enough to ease all the stress he has gotten from the new ways of lecturing. His friends are there for him though, telling him that it will eventually change once he gets used to it.

He can barely see straight and he runs a hand through his hair, muttering an awed ‘oh’ because he does not even remember that he has gelled it up today so it’s an up styled look.

In fact, he’s so tired he barely looks around when he gets to one of his last classes for today. 

He walks into the room, goes up the stairs with heavy footsteps, and chooses a random place to sit when his knees tell him they can do no more.

He sits down and flumps his torso down onto the desk, resting his head on one of his books.

‘’Rough night?’’

Kyungsoo blinks his eyes blearily and grimaces, looking at the person next to him – wait, was there a person there?

When he spots ink drawn along arms and sees a prominent jawline, he jumps up from his seat. ‘’Oh- oh, I didn’t know you were—here—sitting here- uh—before I—‘’ he rambles, clumsily picking his books but cannot get a proper grasp of the sides.

A hand grabs his wrist and forces his ass onto the seat again.

‘’Calm down,’’ Jongin says, and his voice is cold but not unfriendly. It is just how it is.

Kyungsoo slaps his cheeks and tries hard to wake up. ‘’I won’t—I mean, okay.’’ He nods twice and sits down, a breath captured in his chest.

‘’You’re scared of me, huh?’’ the other asks, tilting his jaw. Kyungsoo looks at him, licking his lips. ‘’No- I mean- yes, but no?’’ he knows he is rambling, and his cheeks feel a little warmer than the usual.

_ I’m just ridiculously attracted to you _ .

He’s too tired to comprehend the situation with sober eyes, but he can easily note that Jongin has a messy up styled look today as well, just like Kyungsoo. 

‘’Hair…,’’ Kyungsoo mutters, and Jongin, who was focusing on something on his phone, gives him a stare.

Kyungsoo gulps and leans forward, petting the front bangs that sit high on Jongin’s forehead and points at his own.

‘’We’re…. The same..,’’ his voice dies down –   _ he is so lame  _ – he shouldn’t have intruded Jongin’s personal space, because he knows how Jongin feels about it – has heard  _ stories _ about how it never ends well if the ones touching him are not ones he is familiar with.

Kyungsoo expects a hammer to fall down and bring him eternal judgment, but he is surprised when Kai leans over and pets Kyungsoo’s bangs too, so softly Kyungsoo barely feels it. ‘’Your hair is bouncier than mine is,’’ is all he says – not much of a talker. He turns back to his phone and scrolls down on it.

Kyungsoo sits there, contemplating what just happened.

He swears he has seen how Jongin has swatted people’s hands away or downright hauled some guy named Jonghyun by the collar for being too much of a snuggle fiend.

Kyungsoo bites his lower lip and looks down at his lap. He’s still tired, but he thinks he might have gotten an adrenaline rush just from sitting next to the man he has been crushing on for the past months.

There are still ten minutes until the lecture will begin, and Kyungsoo has forgotten his phone in the dorm, so he sits and stares at the front pages of his books. His gaze occasionally darts over to the male beside him.

He does not know where the courage comes from, really.

‘’Jongin…,’’ he asks, barely noticing that he is addressing the male with his real name rather than the nickname, said barely in a whisper he doesn’t expect Jongin to hear.

Jongin hears it though, responds anyway, looking up from his phone again.

For the first time, Kyungsoo really gets to look him in the eyes. He’s surprised to see how there is some amber in them when the light is angled right. They are sharp and pinning nonetheless.

Kyungsoo forgets he has to say something when Jongin drawls a ‘’Yes?’’ sounding a bit annoyed.

‘’Your tattoos-!’’ Kyungsoo puffs his chest up from the deep inhale he takes. He points at Jongin’s arm, close to grasping it but holds himself back. 

‘’I like them!’’ he says. He feels like he’s in kindergarten again hitting on a girl in the sandbox. An absolute charmer.

Jongin lifts a brow – and that is the clue, Kyungsoo thinks. He’s amused, even if only a little bit.

‘’I got some of them when I was eighteen, stupid and fucking wasted. On a dare,’’ he complies, and Kyungsoo is surprised Jongin even wants to talk to him. ‘’Half of my neck was plastered in this crap, so I decided to come back and get it all done dot by dot, down the biceps and all. I don’t dig half-assed shit.’’

Kyungsoo blinks his eyes. ‘’What about… the piercings?’’

Jongin leans back, and now he puts the phone on the desk, dismissing it. Kyungsoo feels bubbly inside his chest, because that means he has gotten Jongin’s attention.

‘’I got most of them when I was younger than sixteen, just a premature kid with a pair of friends above age. The tongue was also a drunken dare on my eighteenth birthday, though. Got the others when I got older. ‘’

‘’The others…?’’ Kyungsoo scrunches his nose up and looks confused.

To which something in Jongin’s eyes change and a rare smirk appears on his lips.

Kyungsoo gapes. Others…

‘’Oh. Oh- cool,’’ he chortles lamely, nodding, eyes turning to his own business, cursing about the tight feeling that makes his breath do a stutter and his stomach knot together.

Something tinges the air, and when he looks at Jongin again, the tattooed male is staring intently at Kyungsoo, eyes a little darker, mouth slightly agape so that Kyungsoo can see the tongue-piercing graze the backside of the front teeth.

Kyungsoo’s heart does a sommersault and something lodges in his throat – he feels his fingertips tingle. When he wets his lips, he sees how Jongin follows the movement with his gaze.

‘’Can I touch?’’ Kyungsoo blurts out. Just as he does, the strong pheromones of a purebred alpha roll over him and his thighs clench, knuckles whitening from how he grabs the edge of the table. He sometimes gets too obsessed with hiding his own pheromones that he forgets he can smell others´ too.

‘’Touch what?’’ Jongin repeats, his voice sultry – but maybe that’s just Kyungsoo imagining things.

‘’The…. The tattoos…’’

After a moment, Jongin wordlessly holds an arm out, bunching up in his baseball tee’s sleeve.

Kyungsoo inches closer. He doesn’t expect to get a blow to his stomach when he touches the skin, dainty fingers wrapping around Jongin’s wrist as he traces his pads down the ink.

Jongin doesn’t move a muscle but watches Kyungsoo’s face intently; all the while Kyungsoo keeps his eyes on his own fingers mapping the tattoos.

He looks up and into Jongin’s eyes again, only to tense up when the latter leans close in a whisk, face close to the side of Kyungsoo’s throat.

Kyungsoo hears how Jongin takes a deep, deep inhale. The breath fanning over Kyungsoo’s skin makes his toes curl, makes him want to bend over and submit.

Jongin is gone as fast he leaned in. ‘’Your smell is fucking confusing,’’ he mutters, as if he’s speaking to himself.

‘’Could’ve sworn you smelled like an omega for a second…,’’ he says as the last thing before the teacher comes in and announces the beginning of class.

By the end of the lesson, Kyungsoo storms out – not even looking at Jongin when he runs out.

He dashes into his dorm and scares Baekhyun who is, as always, sitting comfortably on his bed whenever possible. Minseok is there with him too today and hey… hey…

‘’Were you two making out?’’ Kyungsoo asks, breathing hard from the running.

Baekhyun flusters and looks around, grabbing one of his sneakers by the bed to haul it at Kyungsoo. Minseok only looks calm. ‘’No! We were just—practicing, fuck-‘’ Baekhyun yells and Kyungsoo just rolls his eyes.

‘’Yeah fine, do the horizontal tango for all I care,’’ he turns his back to them before rummaging his closet like a madman.

He whips out the medicine he takes to suppress the pheromones, only to find the pill bottle nearly empty. He had come to check if there were any downsides to it since Jongin could smell him, but now he, much to his own horror, notices how there are only  **two** pills left. Why has he not noticed earlier?

‘’No—this can’t be happening!’’ He whimpers to himself and bangs his head on the closet next to him.

‘’Don’t hurt your head any more than you already have – might lose your last brain cells,’’ Baekhyun chirps somewhere behind him, followed by Minseok shushing him.

‘’One more word and I will cut your right testicle off - you hear me?’’ Kyungsoo hisses. Baekhyun laughs.

‘’What’s going on?’’ Minseok asks.

This is where Kyungsoo realizes that he can’t really tell them about the happenings.

About the fact that if he doesn’t take his pills, his omega pheromones will ever so slowly come back with full force from all the time they have been pent up, and it is not going to be nice – will eventually trigger a harsh heat or something worse than that and a fever.

‘’Dude, you smell like panic and a club of desperate housewives,’’ Baekhyun continues, and Kyungsoo groans again.

‘’Kyungsoo, what’s going on?’’ Minseok gently coaxes him into speaking.

Kyungsoo turns around. ‘’I’m out of pills… the next freight will come in a months’ time or so… until then...’’

The couple looks confused. ‘’Pills?’’ Baekhyun urges him on.

‘’My omega suppressants!’’ Kyungsoo yowls and he hits his head on the closet again. 

Baekhyun gapes, and so does Minseok.

‘’ **You’re an omega** ?’’ Baekhyun is the first one to go nuts, jumping up from the bed with the other in tow. ‘’I knew it! Why didn’t you tell me? Holy shit, Kyungsoo – I’ve heard about these cases before…’’

‘’I can get you some pills from the school’s nursery that can suppress a bit of the smell you send off, but not the pheromones,’’ Minseok immediately offers.

‘’I can’t believe it!’’ Baekhyun comes forth and latches two hands onto Kyungsoo’s cheeks, cupping them.

‘’ _ You’re a bottom bitch _ ,’’ he whispers with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Kyungsoo punches him.


	2. ARE YOU KIDDING ME

 

There is a possibility that Kyungsoo’s life can become at least ten times easier if only he storms up to the registration desk in front of the college and changes his files. He can tell them he is in fact an omega and that he will need some heat suppressants, if not some days to himself to get rid of the heat once it hits him so that he does not get absence for not being in class.

However, everyone is to know by now that Kyungsoo is a rather stubborn individual.

‘’Listen, Kyung, right now I know you’d like a stick up your ass, but don’t act like it’s already there,’’ Baekhyun drawls from his bed, and Kyungsoo sends him a glare that might burn holes into his cranium.

Three days have gone by now, and he has consumed the two pills that were left.

Now, he has to wait a month for the next freight, but he can already feel that he is jittery from not having gotten the usual pill today, and he is currently sprawled on the floor as he clutches his head and curses aloud, wanting to get certain tattoos out of his head and so much more.

Going a few days without a pill is actually not that bad - and Kyungsoo has before gone a week without them and still refrained from being noticed, but the thing is that ever since he has met Jongin, his senses have been doubled and the pheromones reek from him, clouding his mind.

‘’Baek, this is fucking serious,’’ Kyungsoo raises himself on his knees and lounges over Baekhyun’s lap on the bed, burying his face in one thigh as he groans because Baekhyun smells nothing like what can comfort him or make him at ease.

‘’I can’t risk meeting Jongin during the next weeks because I know I’d just bend over for him right on the spot,’’ he grouses, raising his face to make a grimace in dismay. Baekhyun stares blankly at him, and pets his head apathetically.

He tilts his chin and gives Kyungsoo a greasy smile though. ‘’You know, maybe it’s about time you get laid. You’re so uptight all the time,’’ he says.

‘’It’s not that I haven’t tried!’’ Kyungsoo hisses, but winces because really, he has never had the courage to approach anyone he has ever liked – which has always been those stone-faced, bad-boy looking studs that are unapproachable. ‘’I’m kind of pretty much doomed to only like people I can never get,’’ he sighs.

Baekhyun makes a considering sound and treads some fingers through Kyungsoo’s hair.

‘’You’re kind of blind, you know that?’’

‘’Blind?’’

‘’Incredibly so.’’

‘’Wow, I’m really going to develop towards a better future with this vague advice.’’

Baekhyun whaps him on the head and receives another miffed reply in return.

Kyungsoo rearranges his seat and sits next to Baekhyun, both of their backs against the wall.

‘’You know, I could like-- be your wingman, right?’’ Baekhyun offers, wagging his eyebrows.

‘’Oh, really,’’ Kyungsoo is not interested.

‘’Fuck you.’’

‘’Please do.’’

Baekhyun makes a gagging noise and Kyungsoo laughs.

‘’But it’s funny, you know. I’ve always thought you were a beta and all, and sometimes an alpha – but an omega? That’s…’’ he looks puzzled…. ‘’actually fucking hilarious. The day you bow your head for some buff alpha dude is the day Chanyeol learns how eyeliners work, really.’’

‘’Did he hurt his eyes again?’’

‘’He wanted a new look, but when I came back to check up on him he needed to go to the nursery.’’

‘’Poor man.’’

‘’You’re smiling though.’’

Kyungsoo shrugs and continues smiling. ‘’I need to appreciate the small things in life now that everything is a mess.’’

‘’Yet you say I’m a drama queen…,’’ Baekhyun snorts, plucking at the frills on the edge of the bed.

‘’Minseok told me yesterday he thinks you use too much eyeliner, by the way.’’

‘’He told you  **_what_ ** ?’’ Baekhyun’s eyes are flaring with a dangerous glint.

‘’I’m kidding,’’ Kyungsoo hops off the bed and throws a leering smirk over his shoulder, ‘’ _ drama queen _ ’’ leaving before Baekhyun can haul a pillow at him.

Walking around on campus is the same as before the first couple of days without the pills, except on the fourth day Kyungsoo is suddenly very well aware of the different scents lingering in the air, even if he is on the other pills Minseok has offered.

He notices whenever a beta crosses him, whenever another omega comes forth, and he nearly shrinks into the floor when an alpha rounds the corner.

He tries to be subtle though, and it is not bad enough for him to outwardly react- but the hypersensitivity is severely distracting.

So far, he has not met Jongin yet but only gotten a few glimpses of him - because throughout the past two months he has, after enough time of observing him, gotten to know what kind of schedule the latter has – so therefore he knows just what to do in order for them not to bump into each other.

Kyungsoo thinks it is funny, since there have been times where he has been incapable of pushing Jongin out of the corner of his eyes considering that they are on the same line but in different years – but now he skirts in circles around the usual places just to avoid the mentioned male.

He is not sure what he is to tell his friends either. None of them knows he is an omega, and ever so slowly, his pheromones will become more apparent and give his identity away anyway.

He sighs into his books once he sits in the study lounge, and for now, he has not seen Jongin for almost a whole week, and the omega inside him feels needy and a little malnourished in terms of affection.

He is about to dig into his homework for tomorrow but Junmyeon sends him a message, telling him there will be official dance practice today – also meaning that Kyungsoo has been accepted. For a while, Kyungsoo blankly stares at the screen, but then he nearly bites a hole into his knuckles when he fights against cheering aloud in the quiet zone.

However, the second realization dawns upon him soon after, because dancing means that Jongin, one of the main instructors, will have to teach him. They are ought to  _ work together _ .

He purses his lips and considers skipping life in general, but another part of him tells himself that he should get over himself, because the omega inside him means nothing in the first place. He has strayed away from his own nature for years – so why should a month make a difference, really?

He snorts to himself and thinks of courageous phrases, though they die down in the very moment where a heavy smell hits his face like a brick, rises up his legs as he tenses and looks around.

Something lodges in his throat, because mere meters away from him Jongin is standing, and he is  _ staring _ at Kyungsoo – wearing the usual attire, some skinny jeans, a loose stylish cotton shirt and trashy sneakers. His hair is as messy but in a somewhat charming way, and his jaw sets, shoulders squaring automatically when he starts walking.

Kyungsoo must look like a ghost by now due to the way the color on his face blanches, but Jongin pays no mind and closes in on him until he is standing right in front of the younger, who still sits down. Jongin’s face is unreadable but his shaded eyes are icy like the usual.

Kyungsoo barely realizes how he has shrunk into the sofa, and there are not many around right now, so no one pays them any mind. His knees have drifted apart and he is mere seconds away from baring himself or tipping his chin to reveal his throat in a humble gesture, but he musters enough courage to stare back.

He holds his breath, because Jongin just stands there, looking at Kyungsoo.

‘’Kyungsoo,’’ he says, and when did he get a hold of Kyungsoo’s name? Perhaps at the dance practice? Nevertheless, he did not know it during class where they spoke, so-

Kyungsoo is brought out of his thoughts when Jongin holds a pencil in front of him. ‘’You forgot your pencil the last time we spoke,’’ he says, voice neutral – no cursing, and Kyungsoo stares stupidly at the pencil for a while, still mesmerized by the dollop of heat that has dropped in his gut due to the other’s presence.

‘’Um-‘’ he musters, and he swallows heavily and tries to pick it with nimble fingers, this time closing his legs when a tingly sensation runs down his spine from the way Jongin is intently staring at him. Jongin’s smell is suddenly expanding by tenfold and is present in Kyungsoo’s nostrils, and Kyunsoo’s brows arch helplessly from the intoxicating scent that urges him to drop down on his knees to bury his face in the other’s crotch.

Yet when he grabs the pencil, Jongin does not draw back, but closes in on him, leaning down so that they are face to face.

Jongin tilts his head a bit, and his eyes stray further down, rakes over the other and he, much like he had done during the lesson, presses his face against the side of the younger’s throat, inhaling deeply.

Kyungsoo’s stomach flares from the inside and he lets out a surprised moan, eyes crinkling at the corners from the lewd grimace on his face. The way he can feel how wetness gathers between his buttocks makes his cheeks fume, and his breath hitches.

Jongin keeps his face there for a few seconds before trailing up to rest his mouth against the sensitive skin beneath Kyungsoo’s ear, breathing out.

‘’Omega,’’ he murmurs with a timbre voice, and just then he draws back, pierced tongue darting out to wet his own lips while he holds the eye contact, a small smirk appearing on his lips – the kind of smirk that makes Kyungsoo weak in the knees.

He then turns around and leaves like nothing happened, and Kyungsoo is left there, melted into the fabric of the sofa - semi-hard, wet and flustered.

It seems to trigger something within him, because the walk to his room seems even tougher than the usual, and his underwear is wet by now due to his self-lubrication having wetted the cotton. He knows better than to touch himself once he reaches his empty share-room, because sexual stimulation will only increase the desire, and might trigger the upcoming heat. If he is lucky, the fright will be early enough for him to suppress the most of it.

He holds the pencil close to himself – and it is really stupid, because it has the remnants of Jongin’s scent on it. He only but clamps it close to his chest and sits on his bed, thumping the back of his head against the wall once or twice in an attempt to get over himself. He has barely managed to finish his homework too.

Moreover, he has absolutely no idea as for what Jongin is trying to do. So far, the only thing Kyungsoo can make out of it is that Jongin wishes to humiliate him with the status and with the reactions that he can draw from the omega… but wishful thinking makes Kyungsoo hope for something very different.

He is sure Jongin must have smelled his arousal once he had leant in, and that only makes the embarrassment about ten times worse.

‘’Kyungsoo- I haven’t seen you for-‘’ Jongdae is walking towards Kyungsoo, but stops amidst it, nose scrunching up, dumbfound face expression taking place. His hand halts too, no longer waving as he strokes his own chin in a thoughtful way, giving Kyungsoo a not so subtle once-over look.

Kyungsoo is standing in a loose shirt and shorts, in the middle of entering the practice room with about a hundred knots of anxiousness in his stomach.

‘’Don’t,’’ Kyungsoo cuts him off, and a devilish smile curls at the corners of Jongdae’s mouth.

The smile says that Jongdae is mere traces away from having gathered some good blackmail material; he gives Kyungsoo a nonchalant raise of his brows.

‘’Well…,’’ he smarmily murmurs and hooks an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, already aware of how Kyungsoo is seconds away from pressing his face against him just to relish in the scent of an alpha, given Kyungsoo’s fluctuating and horrid hormones right now from being off the usual program.

‘’Seems like I’ve caught one feisty omega today,’’ Jongdae wags his eyebrows.

Kyungsoo curses, but he is glad that Jongdae has no other comments to provide than that.

The pills Minseok have given him are about to wear off, and before going in he was about to take another dose, but Jongdae interrupted him.

‘’Yeah, I’m a mess right now, basically,’’ Kyungsoo mutters and twists the cap of the flask open, subsequently swallowing the pills dry because desperate situations cause desperate measures.

‘’What kind of man are you,’’ Jongdae makes a grimace, one hand massaging his own throat.

‘’Not one to mess with,’’ Kyungsoo looks him dead in the eye, closing the flask again.

‘’Funny how you’re a little hissy-fit on own legs, but whenever Kai comes around-‘’ Jongdae is cut off by the door in front of them that opens.

Jongin has a hand on the knob from the inside, about to walk out.

The blonde stops though, brows furrowing and something hooded gathering in his eyes as he perceives the sight before him.

Jongdae has an arm circled around Kyungsoo’s shoulder and neck, pressing him close, automatically scenting him, and Kyungsoo’s face is centimeters away from the elder’s.

Kyungsoo does not manage to turn his face and look at the door before Jongdae, for some reason, scurries off and holds his hands to himself, coughing into his own fist as he says something about the newly structured halls being lovely today.

However, the omega is met by a pungent and strong scent that immediately makes him tense up as he holds the flask closer to himself, now staring at Jongin like a deer caught in headlight, even if he has absolutely no reason to, other than out of embarrassment from the previous episode.

‘’Practice in five minutes,’’ is all Jongin says, and even if Kyungsoo is looking at the ground, he can feel how Jongin’s eyes are boring holes into the side of his face with intensity that is not vehement but something else, something Kyungsoo cannot put any words on. Kyungsoo is not sure why the air is so awkward all of sudden, either.

Jongin walks ahead, but bumps not so gently into Jongdae’s shoulder on the way, though Jongdae says nothing and does his best to step aside.

_ Shit _ , is all Kyungsoo can think. He can already feel his thighs clench and a heated feeling gather in his gut, and he barely believes he will be able to handle bodily hardships in the same room as Jongin.

Jongdae looks him in the eyes though once the other alpha has passed by.

‘’All right,’’ he shrugs, looking fairly impressed. ‘’Tell me when the two of you get married and settle down,’’ he gives the other a pat on the shoulder and strides into the practice room, leaving a confused Kyungsoo behind.

Kyungsoo messes up too often, and his concentration is cloudy throughout the first half hour of practice.

It may or may not have everything to do with the tanned male a few meters ahead of him whose way of moving is so raw and sensual Kyungsoo feels like beating him up on the spot for doing  _ such illegal things _ with his limbs.

The tattoos dance on the taut skin for every time Jongin crooks his arm or straightens it out, and it is all so mesmerizing it has Kyungsoo’s head spinning and his insides heat up, and he can only count himself lucky that the pill he is on is yet to wear off.

Unfortunately, he has been pressured to stand in the front row by a resolute Junmyeon, who thinks it is better for the newbies to get an opportunity to catch up on some of the steps that the seniors or third years have already learnt regarding this choreography.

Kyungsoo can hear Jongdae grin in the background every now and then, and absolutely nothing makes this situation better.

During the break, he sits with his thighs fit together, one arm spread over his stomach as he closes his eyes and drinks a lot of water, sighing loudly once he is done.

The weirdest thing is that the pining goes much further than the urge to have sex. He feels like he wants to lean in and kiss Jongin’s throat, have those toned arms around him in a warm hug – wants to hear his voice, trace his tattoos and piercings too, wants to know what movies he likes, and what-

‘’Kyungsoo,’’ someone has squatted down in front of Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo thumps the back of his head into the wall behind him when he tries to lurch back, because it is Jongin who has crouched down in front of him.

Jongin hurries a hand forward, curving it around Kyungsoo’s head to caress the back. ‘’Careful,’’ he says, and Kyungsoo can only nod somewhat timidly, trying not to lean too much into the touch.

‘’Jongin?’’ he asks, fairly confused.

Jongin has his eyes squinted, but instead of them being unfathomable, he looks a little wary – worried even.  ‘’You’re lagging behind,’’ he says, and Kyungsoo grimaces, muttering a ‘’ah, yeah…’’ now he even looks stupid in front of his crush, he thinks. Jongin must know the cause of his lack of concentration too.

Silence erupts between them, but then Jongin’s hand slides down Kyungsoo’s nape and all the way down to the right bicep, taking a hold there, and if he notices how the latter shivers, he does not comment on it. ‘’Come with me,’’ he says, and his voice is somewhat soft now.

Kyungsoo is about to reluctantly say no, because following Jongin would be like following a wolf into its dent. His omega has other ideas though, makes him abruptly jump up as he nods. He is doe-eyed as he follows the other.

Taemin calls Jongin’s name though, hand on his hip – a somewhat knowing smile on his lips. ‘’Where are you going?’’ and he is one of the main instructors as well.

Jongin does not tense up but only gives Taemin a somewhat warning look that no one wants to see on Jongin’s face, though the other male does not budge, as others would have. ‘’Kyungsoo is lacking behind, so I’ll help him with the steps,’’ he says, because even if this is only the first hour of practice, they have an upcoming program which the line takes pretty seriously.

Some girls in the background send Kyungsoo the stink eye, and one chirps that she does not know the steps either, and Jongdae swoons too, getting a killer look from the otherwise sweet Junmyeon.

‘’Learn it yourself,’’ Jongin gruffly responds and turns around, taking Kyungsoo with him on his stride.

Taemin shrugs and gives the others an unimpressed glare, ‘’yeah he didn’t pass as an instructor through his exemplary pedagogic skills,’’ he dryly comments.

They take their stuff with them, and Jongin leads them to another practice room that is currently not in use. The wooden floor is of a mild yellow, walls white, and body-sized windows are lined up along them.

Kyungsoo holds his breath all the while, because Jongin’s smell is intoxicating to him, and a part of him wants to flee – and the other half wants to ask what this is all about.

He expects Jongin to confront him, make fun of him or something alike, but instead the taller turns around and takes a hold of Kyungsoo’s hips.

‘’You’re distracted,’’ he says, and his face is, as always, hard to read.

Kyungsoo wants to make a snappy comment, but instead he just sighs. Jongin must already smell the arousal on him and what not – this is all a part of the blow. ‘’Sorry…, I really don’t get the dance,’’ he mutters.

A smile suddenly stretches on Jongin’s lips, a small but gentle one that Kyungsoo has not seen before, and Kyungsoo cannot help but to look how the black snakebite piercings move a bit with the gesture.

‘’I’ll help you…,’’ Jongin says, though the words are a little clipped, almost as if the words sound foreign and strained on his tongue. He scrunches his nose up and runs a hand through his silvery locks, ruffling it a bit.

He holds Kyungsoo’s hips again, and the warmth from his hands seep through the thin shirt and makes Kyungsoo look down at the floor, lower lip wobbling.

Jongin instructs Kyungsoo and guides his arms, repeating the motions in front of him too as he then instructs him to do the same. Kyungsoo is surprised by how gentle Jongin is, despite that it looks like he is fighting hard against cursing every now and then as he during class does as easily as breathing.

They even laugh at one point where Kyungsoo messes up, even if he is mentally battling the heat gathering in his stomach and the humidness between his legs when Jongin looks the other way.

The worst is the touches that Jongin leaves everywhere, thumb gingerly digging into the bend of Kyungsoo’s elbow when he helps him with one of the steps, hands rough but nice on Kyungsoo’s skin whenever he draws close. It is a slow dance but with difficult and minor links where it is important that one’s hands are led the right way – every detail matters.

At one point, Jongin even compliments him, and looks a little thrown off or dazed when Kyungsoo does a light, unexpected giggle and smiles, because Kyungsoo’s inner omega is swooning at the slightest affection he can get.

The laughs dies down once Jongin lines up behind him and takes a hold of his arms, guiding him once more, this time regarding the steps they make. Kyungsoo immediately holds his breath, stomach flexing beneath his shirt when a warm breath fans over his nape once Jongin starts to murmur in a soothing but deep voice.

Kyungsoo is practically vibrating due to the lack of distance between them; the way Jongin’s chest feels too good against his back, makes a shiver run down Kyungsoo’s spine. It gets harder and harder to suppress the tingly feeling between his thighs, and he whimpers through his teeth because in the mirror in front of him he can see how his cheeks are flushed, blush streaking down his throat, arousal starting to tent his shorts.

He fidgets on his feet, because Jongin only has to look up to see him in the mirror. It is quiet in the room too, save for the sound of their sneakers squeaking against the polished floor once they move, and Jongin’s small ‘’One, two…’’ for the steps, all muttered into Kyungsoo’s nape.

Kyungsoo nearly jerks away from the jolt of electricity that molds when Jongin’s hand on his hip slumps and splays out on the lower abdomen instead, ridding a bit up in the shirt as the long fingers curl there. Jongin leans close and now his lips are grazing the side of Kyungsoo’s throat, and Kyungsoo can hear how the alpha takes a long whiff, breath shaky afterwards as his biceps cram Kyungsoo between them from where he has got his arm circled around the latter.

Kyungsoo’s toes curl once Jongin inches closer and a prominent bulge arches against the cleft of the clothed buttocks, the hand on front pressing Kyungsoo back to emphasize the pressure.

Kyungsoo feels how something inside him convulses, and he whimpers in embarrassment.  He can feel something wet run down the side of his thigh, not caught by the shorts, and a wave of a heavy, authoritative scent rolls over him from behind.

He nearly twists his ankle when Jongin’s hands drag down his sides to grasp at each thigh, skirting up beneath the hem of the shorts. Kyungsoo cannot see Jongin’s face in the mirror before himself but can only see how the latter crouches behind him.

His shoulders hunch and his breathing grows frantic, because Jongin presses the side of his face against the back of one thigh, sticking his tongue out to lick a naughty stripe up to the inner thigh, lapping at the transparent droplets that are sliding down, and his tongue is warm and wet – one patch cold from the tongue piercing.

His hands slide up to cup each ass cheek beneath the hem of the shorts, spreading them apart as he noses at the cleft with his face, hot breath reeving through the material as he inhales again and licks at the juice that has wetted the cotton. Kyungsoo is nearly bent in half, hunched over and hands clenching the front of his wear. A lewd grimace splays on his face, and he puffs out hot breaths as the omega within him keens eagerly, and he can feel Jongin’s septum scrape there too the closer the alpha gets.

Just then, a distant buzzing comes from the other end of the room where Kyungsoo has thrown his phone on the floor when they got here.

Jongin stops moving for a second before he raises himself, hands lingering on the buttocks for a second more than necessary as he walks over to take his own bottle of water, lining it up to his mouth as he drinks, back turned to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo takes a moment to gather a sense of morality. He stumbles a bit and goes over to angrily snatch his phone, face red by now as he checks the message he has received.

**From: ByunBitch**

_ ‘dude you were supposed 2 b here 10 min ago?? U better come now or im gonna go watch the movie myself u ungrateful fuck’ _

He looks at the time, and sees that training ended about twenty minutes ago, and he and Baekhyun have planned to go to the cinema this evening.

He groans and types a quick reply, a _ : ’I will find you’  _ which can be either pretty intimidating or relieving.

A cough from the door startles him and he looks up, and Jongin has already draped a hoodie over himself that he brought along. His pants are still tented and Kyungsoo does his best not to stare at the prominent outline, so he bites the inside of one cheek and gathers his own stuff and waddles over.

They stand in front of the door now, about to leave, but none of them really makes a first move.

‘’Was it okay?’’ Jongin suddenly asks - eyes fixed on his own hand where it rests on the doorknob. The question is horribly ambiguous and makes Kyungsoo glare at him in surprise.

Kyungsoo fidgets a bit. ‘’The- the dancing?’’

Jongin nods. ‘’Yeah.’’

‘’It was- it was great. You’re great. I mean- yes- it was good,’’ Kyungsoo flusters and wrenches his hands together.

A hand climbs up to shortly rest on Kyungsoo’s hip, giving it a reassuring clench that makes Kyungsoo want to lean close to be embraced. ‘’Good,’’ is all Jongin says, granting the hip one - almost fond -  pat before motioning for Kyungsoo to walk out first, since Jongin has to lock the room.

Kyungsoo takes a few couple of steps out, and he is not sure what to make of this situation. ‘’Um, see you, Jongin,’’ he mutters, a small smile on his lips.

Jongin might not be smiling big, but there is a curl at the corner of his mouth. ‘’See you, Soo,’’ he says.

The sudden nickname makes Kyungsoo want to skip all the way back to campus, even if he is soaked through his shorts and probably reeks of hormones and sexual frustration.

The moment Kyungsoo steps into his room, Baekhyun gasps loudly and drops his phone on his own lap.

‘’You  **_didn’t_ ** !’’ a smile creeps upon his lips, the scary kind he gets when fresh gossip floats around. He smells the bland pheromones too easily, Jongin having put his scent all over Kyungsoo.

Yet Kyungsoo is too meek, and his heart is restless and jittery. He merely scrapes the heel of his sneaker against the floor and mutters something unintelligible, and Baekhyun almost has a seizure from how he jitters and claps his hands, laughing in joy.

‘’So you did it or what?’’ he forgets everything about going to the cinema and goes over to hold Kyungsoo by the arms, looking straight into his eyes.

‘’Did it?’’ Kyungsoo blinks his eyes in questioning.

Baekhyun hunches his head back. ‘’You know…,’’ he inquires, but Kyungsoo stares blankly at him.

‘’Didn’t he… uh… back the car into the garage?’’ he offers. ‘’Perform the horizontal tango on you? Dip his fingers in the honey?’’

Kyungsoo squints his eyes.

Baekhyun groans. ‘’Did he  **fuck you** or  _ what _ ?’’

Kyungsoo does a boisterous inhale as if he just resurfaced from water, and he contributes with feeble ‘uh’ and ‘ahs’, unlike how steadfast he usually is. ‘’No- He... didn’t really..’’ he is not sure what to say, because Jongin did not really do much – and they did not talk about it afterwards other than to say bye, air a little awkward between them but pleasant nonetheless.

He realizes he does not even have Jongin’s number.

‘’ **Wow** ,’’ Baekhyun sounds miffed and he makes a snobbish grimace. ‘’I thought you said you wanted to get laid.’’

‘’I want to!’’ Kyungsoo prompts.

‘’Then what’s the problem? You  **obviously** like each other. I can’t  _ believe _ you haven’t seen how he literally fucks you with his eyes from the other end of the cafeteria-- he even came to me to ask me for your number a  _ month _ ago, I swear to god-‘’

Kyungsoo stops him, bidding a blank ‘’what’’.

Baekhyun gapes. ‘’So he didn’t even…’’ he trails off, tonguing the inside of his cheek while crosses his arms and looks like he is about ten percent away from giving up on mankind.

‘’You know what; let’s go watch that movie before it’s too late, and then you can have your midlife crisis when we’re done.’’

He gives Kyungsoo’s shoulder a not so gentle slap and directs him to the share-showers, picking some clothes from the younger’s closet before doing so.

‘’I’m not going.’’

‘’Yes. Now, which one would you like to wear? The wine red shirt or the olive green-‘’

‘’No.’’

Baekhyun lifts his eyebrows. ‘’Jongin will be there.’’

‘’Absolutely n-‘’ Kyungsoo’s answer is muffled as Baekhyun throws the shirt at his face and says ‘’great, the red one then.’’

Chanyeol chortles on Baekhyun’s bed, absentmindedly listening to the conversation while he plays on his Nintendo 3ds. 

‘’So you’re saying they riled each other up but didn’t have a roll in the hay?’’ he mutters, sticking his tongue out. ‘’Wow, really,’’ he chirps, because he knows the answer already.

Baekhyun gives him an unimpressed stare. ‘’Don’t get me started on you and your alpha Yifan and his  _ big hands and long fing _ -‘’ he remarks, and Chanyeol immediately makes a hasty zip gesture, interrupting him.

‘’All right, so-‘’ Baekhyun directs his attention towards Kyungsoo again and points at him, ‘’ **_you_ ** —are getting laid tonight, okay?’’

Kyungsoo grumbles. ‘’But what if it triggers my heat…,’’

‘’Then you have sex for a week and fuck your problems away, okay.’’

‘’You literally want me to go to a party full of different alphas and what not, while I’m in a difficult and hormonal state of pent up sexual frustration.’’

Baekhyun puckers his lips. ‘’Look at it like this: some alpha stud will come over and probably hit on you, and Jongin will definitely be there, since it’s Taemin’s party, and swoop you away. He’ll then throw you over his back like some rowdy caveman and drag you to a bedroom and-‘’

‘’Right, right…,’’ Kyungsoo changes his shirt, and tries to shy away from the temporary warmth spreading in his veins at the thought.

‘’Just don’t get drunk, though…’’ Chanyeol notes in the background. ‘’We know how that ends,’’ he lifts his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Kyungsoo holds crooked fingers out, ready to maim.

The party is at its peak once they arrive. Baekhyun already starts looking after Minseok the moment they step indoors, and Chanyeol settles down with Zitao, shimming through the crowd of people.

Kyungsoo could have followed suit, but he feels frozen as he stands there in the middle, intoxicated by all the different pheromones filling the air. People are dancing back and forth while others sit down with a red cup in their hands, sipping alcohol as they converse.

He has not seen Jongin for two days since the day they danced together, and has not been able to spot him anywhere, so now he is not sure what to think.

Music blasts from a big stereo with amplifiers, and Kyungsoo barely has to look around before a cup is pressed into his hands, filled with beverage that sloshes in the form. It has been so long since he last got drunk, and it seems too tempting to drink something just to ease his nerves and the insistent call of his omega reacting to the surroundings.

However, once he puts the edge up to his lips and takes a sip, one gulp leads to another and he starts talking to the people around him. He has already swallowed two pills before going, so the scent suppressants should work for the rest of the night.

He accepts the next cup that is put in his hands, and barely grants it an extra thought when a third follows soon after.

Something within him gurgles and tells him to get some stress relief, and he has tried to look for Jongin for more than an hour between the smaller conversations, but now he feels rather drunk on the different scents around him.

Most will suffice when his sight turns a little blurred and moving becomes easier, and the music is loud but rhythmic in his ears, telling him to dance and go ahead. He smiles prettily to the next alpha who comes up to him with a charming smile, and his omega coos pleasantly when a second alpha comes forth as well – none of them purebred, but it will do.

They ask him for a dance, and he nods with a flirtatious and flattered smirk on his lips, already far gone as they drag him out and sandwich him between them.

He somewhat feels traitorous, but at the same time he thinks that if Jongin is not going to go for it or wants him, he will have to please himself on his own, as sad it is. He decides he can feel sad and rejected in the morning instead when he has a huge hangover and a bottle of cola by his side.

He croons when the alphas inch close, swarming around him - and the both of them are pretty enough, so he can only grind back in return and enjoy the friction it causes.

It does not have the same effect as when he is with Jongin, is the first thing that hits him despite his drunken state, and it almost seems dull – but the rhythm is addicting and so is the music, combined with the attention.

He tries not resisting the lips pressing against his jawline on front or the hands on his hips from behind. The male before him cups his cheek with one hand and leans down, but never makes it far before he is caught by the scruff of his collar and is whipped back.

The other behind Kyungsoo bares his teeth and snarls at the intruder, but stiffens once Jongin steps in view and presses his front against Kyungsoo, drawing him close as he meets the other face to face and growls, shoulders squaring to twice their original size.

The scent of a purebred alpha whose anger is boiling is frightening, and some people around them stop dancing to step aside. The other alpha fidgets on his feet but huffs at last, disappearing between the crowds dejectedly.

Kyungsoo is bubbly and is not sure just what it is that happened, but all he knows is that he smells home in his nostrils, so he leans forward and rubs his face into the clothed chest before him. An intoxicated Kyungsoo is easy to guide around, and Jongin takes him by the arm and turns him around, guiding him into the hall instead where there are less people.

‘’Soo,’’ he says, snarling through his teeth though it softens when Kyungsoo looks up at him with doe, drunken eyes full of adoration as the omega leans closer and continues rubbing his face against Jongin’s chest and his black shirt. Jongin says something about Kyungsoo who is ought to be careful with who he dances with, but Kyungsoo can only focus on one thing. ‘’Baekhyun is a genius,’’ he mutters haphazardly, giggling because Jongin was so jealous, and for some reason he is really, really pleased with that.

Jongin makes a strained sound, especially once Kyungsoo draws closer and circles his arms around the waist before him, rubbing off on him. Nonetheless, the first thing Jongin does is to return it, nosing at Kyungsoo’s throat once Kyungsoo has leant a little back. Kyungsoo stands still then and purrs, because being scented by his desired alpha is the best thing in the whole world, and he squirms a bit from the heat starting to crowd his inner.

‘’Get a room,’’ someone says, though they quit their yapping when Jongin growls low in his throat as a warning and stares rudely at them till they leave the hall.

Kyungsoo starts tugging at Jongin’s shirt, and there is a lot he wants to say, but what mostly fills him is the desire surging through his veins. He wants Jongin’s smell all over him. The pent up frustrations from earlier crawl back and makes him lean forward to mouth at Jongin’s Adam’s apple, sticking his tongue out to swipe it there.

Jongin’s stance turns a little tense, and he guides Kyungsoo upstairs into what he says is Taemin’s room.

However, when the door closes, he sits down on the bed rather patiently, as if he wants to spill his life story to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo stands before him, confused when Jongin motions him to sit next to him.

The omega within him decides it is far more tempting to sit a certain elsewhere, so he nearly topples Jongin over when he climbs onto his lap and presses himself there, humming pleasantly as he rubs himself against the other and grinds his hips down.

Jongin makes a garbled sound, surprised by the actions though veins protrude on his neck as he tries to keep the other still, looking like he is fighting against getting rowdy. ‘’Kyungsoo,’’ he tries to connect with the omega and says a lot of different words and sentences, but Kyungsoo blinks his eyes and looks up at Jongin through slender eyelashes, leaning up to align their lips instead of listening.

Kyungsoo smiles into the kiss because he knows he is slowly winning Jongin over once Jongin nips back, and their lips meet in small hungry pecks that are chaste at first but turns into nibbling, groaning, hot breaths and tongues darting out to tangle and meet in the middle.

Kyungsoo visibly shudders, because Jongin’s piercing is cold but so pleasant against his own tongue. His hips jerk forward, and he whimpers when he can feel Jongin’s erection press against his clothed inner-thigh. He sneaks a hand down and cups the shape, stroking a hand along the outline to get a feeling of it, and his breath is out of control because Jongin is so, so big, and his knot must be even bigger--

‘’ **_Soo_ ** ,’’ Jongin tries to hold Kyungsoo back, but Kyungsoo only whimpers again and tries to get closer. The elder’s hair is disheveled from Kyungsoo’s eager hands from before, and his pupils are dilated as he reeks arousal and lust. Kyungsoo only needs a little more before the heat will unfurl, before he will beg to be knotted, claimed and taken- just a little more-

He squeaks though when he is suddenly rolled onto his back and then turned around, and Jongin holds Kyungsoo’s arms crossed against himself like a straitjacket. ‘’Soo, listen-‘’ he says again, and this time his voice is authoritative and makes Kyungsoo still.

‘’I-‘’ he stutters, taking a deep breath. Kyungsoo can still feel how aroused he is since the elder is pressed against him from behind and above him. ‘’I think we should date first,’’ he says somewhat softly, and something hurls in Kyungsoo’s stomach.

Jongin lets go of the omega and lets Kyungsoo turn around. Kyungsoo looks up and the least he expects to see is a red nuance loom on Jongin’s bronze cheeks, see how Jongin looks heavily aroused but also shy and timid at the same time, excited too.

This would have been the perfect moment if it is not for the fact that Kyungsoo is drunk and incredibly needy, and all he hears is ‘ **I don’t want to have sex with you** ’ rather than the underlying and sweet promise beneath.

Jongin’s eyes nearly bulge when he sees how tears gather at the corner of Kyungsoo’s eyes, and it takes less than ten seconds before a sob wrenches out of Kyungsoo’s chest. He is like a hormonal, emotionally unstable teenager as he hammers weak fists against Jongin’s chest repeatedly, blubbering helpless, barely coherent  _ ‘’stupid, stupid, stupid Jongin, stupid alpha, stupid Jongin _ ,’’ as he sobs and cries that he hates Jongin more than his old history teacher.

Jongin barely gets a word inserted before Kyungsoo has shimmied out beneath him and has barged the door open, running down the stairs.

Kyungsoo faintly hears Jongin call his name behind him, but Kyungsoo is crying tears and snot now, and when he gets outside a hand grabs him, and it is Baekhyun and Minseok who stand there, trying to coax a wailing omega.

When Jongin finally makes it through the crowd and gets outside, Kyungsoo is nowhere to be seen, and he stares at his own shoes rather blankly, not knowing what just happened.

‘’Calm down, Kyung,’’ Baekhyun pets Kyungsoo’s back, and they have made it home to their dorm after a half hour of Kyungsoo trying to lie down on the sidewalk to cry in peace.

Minseok sits on the other side and makes sure Kyungsoo gets something to drink every now and then between the sobbing.

‘’Do you know what happened?’’ he asks, and Baekhyun makes a ‘don’t-ask-me’ sound.

‘’He- he—Jongin-‘’ Kyungsoo finally speaks somewhat coherently, sniffling.

His eyes are red and he looks like a wreck.

‘’What’d that shithead do?’’ Baekhyun is all fire and hen-mom mode now, as if ready to pounce up in case he might need to beat Jongin up for whatever cause it is that has made Kyungsoo cry.

‘’He-‘’ Kyungsoo’s breath stutters, ‘’he didn’t want to have sex with me,’’ he whispers, and Minseok takes his hand and strokes a thumb comfortingly over the front.

‘’He- he said-‘’ Kyungsoo shakes his head and another sob wrenches through. ‘’He said he wanted to  _ date _ me first.’’

Baekhyun springs up and rolls his sleeve up, ‘’all right,  **that’s it** \- where is that douche-  I’ll take him down with  _ one _ arm-‘’ he stops amidst it, mouth hanging ajar. ‘’What did you say?’’

Minseok clutches his own face with his free hand, sighing openly.

Kyungsoo starts again: ‘’ **he said he wanted to date me first** !’’ and he cries again, bawling.

Baekhyun’s lips tighten in a line, and veins sprout on his neck as he curls his hands into fists.

Just then, Chanyeol comes home, a little tipsy and starry-eyed, but sober enough to stop up and stare at Kyungsoo and the others. ‘’I told you he shouldn’t get drunk tonight,’’ he says, and Baekhyun is about to rip out his own hair.

‘’ **Are you fucking kidding me** .’’  


	3. NO WAY

 

 

Kyungsoo wakes up due to being backhanded into the current century by a strict Baekhyun looming over him next to the bed.

The omega wakes up like Captain America from the ice, except he barely looks like he got out of the Second World War.

‘’Wake  _ the fuck  _ **_up_ ** , sleeping beauty,’’ are the morning words, a pleasant greeting, as Baekhyun shoves a glass of water in Kyungsoo’s face, and Kyungsoo blearily takes it with weak fingers and a scrunched up expression on his face.

He downs the water and empties the glass in one go, wheezing  like an old man who has been out watering flowers in a thirty degrees heat.

He is still a little absentminded, but Minseok, who apparently is there too, comes over to stand beside Baekhyun – and Kyungsoo feels like he sits before his disappointed parents looking at their train wreck of a teenage son.

Minseok hands him some pills for the assumed splitting headache, and Kyungsoo takes those down as well, along with the one he is handed that suppresses the smell of his continuous state.

‘’Do you remember what happened?’’ the alpha asks, gently approaching the subject lying in wait, and sits down on the edge of the bed. Baekhyun continues standing, and he has his arms crossed and a considering expression on his face.

Kyungsoo knows exactly what happened, and that may or may not be the problem.

He is yet to be hit by the anxiety that will come, along with the embarrassment, but right now, he just mulls on it.

He goes the evening through in his head, and even if he got a lot to drink, he still remembers dancing with the other alphas- remembers that Jongin interrupted and the two of them… talked.

Or the point where Kyungsoo cried like a baby and accused Jongin for doing something shady when Jongin was just being reasonable, or rather sweet.

The mere fact that Jongin seems to want something  _ more _ with Kyungsoo makes Kyungsoo’s brain blanch and his eyes dreary in disbelief.

‘’I fucked up,’’ is the first thing he says, and runs a hand over his face, rubbing one eye just to realize this is no dream. He is waken up to the clusterfuck he left behind.

Baekhyun’s eyes soften at this, and now he sits down too, next to Minseok.

If Kyungsoo had no reason for Jongin to date him before, he sure has about a minus hundred now.

‘’Soo, you were drunk,’’ Minseok says. ‘’Things like these happens, especially when you’re in a vulnerable state right now and your hormones will cloud your filter. It’s not likely the first time an omega has gone into a rutting mood, you know. It’s even worse when it’s the alphas.’’

Baekhyun sighs. ‘’It’s my fault. I dragged him out when I knew about his state and all, regarding the pent up pheromones.’’

Kyungsoo puffs out a breath. ‘’No, I agreed to come in the end. I knew I shouldn’t have had too much to drink, anyway.’’

Minseok breaks the gloomy atmosphere by saying: ‘’all right, what happened has happened now, and the party was good. Kyungsoo was a horny omega and he wanted to fuck, Jongin wanted to date – shit happens and it clashes.’’

He pokes Kyungsoo’s hand.

‘’What I know is that Jongin said he wanted more to do with you – which includes  _ fucking _ , if I’m not wrong, and you should act on that. Patience is virtue, even if your hormones play your mind. Think of all the rutting you could do if you got together, you know.’’

Kyungsoo wants to believe it, but for the most of his life, he has just been a hardheaded undercover omega wanting to be someone else, with a self-worth not worth penny or dust and a temper a little too keen and timidity too obvious.

‘’He wouldn’t date me after what happened. I literally punched him in the chest or- or something. I said hated him more than I hate my old history teacher in high school. Got snot on him, probably… and I assaulted him sexually. And uh- and uh-… yeah. My crying face is not,’’ he trails off, averting eye contact. ‘’Is not likely a world wonder.’’’

Baekhyun snorts so hard his brain might turn mush. ‘’Yeah but we know your drunk punches are like the kick from a mosquito,’’ Kyungsoo’s lower lip wobbles and he pouts, ‘’- and I’m  **_very_ ** sure Jongin likes seeing your crying face.’’ 

‘’Maybe in a different scenario,’’ Minseok joins in and the couple shares a look.

Kyungsoo squawks into his own hands and Minseok looks just as smug as Baekhyun – it is no wonder the two of them got together, the perverted lot, even if Minseok is better at hiding it behind his levelheaded posture.

It eases the atmosphere though, even if the realization of what happened catches up on Kyungsoo and the omega feels like caving in anew.

‘’You know, you should learn to give yourself a chance,’’ Baekhyun says, and he grips Kyungsoo’s jaw when the latter tries to avert eye contact.

Baekhyun raises his brows and tilts his chin a little down, giving Kyungsoo an imploring look.

‘’Kyungsoo, despite being a little sourpuss every now and then, you’re really fucking lovely. You have flaws as we all do, surprise, but you’re cute, you’re sweet and kind of feisty too,’’ he puckers his lips and nods to himself, ‘’I heard the alphas like that, by the way.’’

Minseok has a lewd grin on his face. ‘’True for some. For me, at least,’’ and he eyes Baekhyun in  _ that _ way, the bone-jumping one that makes Kyungsoo wants to gag when the couple leans a little closer to each other, bonding over this.

‘’But Kyungsoo’s got a nice ass,’’ Minseok then continues in a soothing, almost professional voice, unabashed.

‘’Excuse me.’’

‘’But yours is better, of course,’’ the alpha pats Baekhyun’s bum, but Baekhyun merely huffs.

‘’Okay, Minseok pervy pants here is right. Your ass is bomb and I’d die for a pair of thighs like yours. There’s a lot to you, and even if you’re whiny, you wouldn’t have all these people around you that are eager to talk to you and help you if we didn’t like you.’’

Kyungsoo flusters a little at the kind words, but he smiles as well, a private one. ‘’Okay,’’ he says. He knows he does not need to thank them, and Baekhyun always flounders at him if he does.

‘’But- it just- it hasn’t felt like Jongin’s been… just as interested? I mean, somehow, yes- or maybe it’s just the insecure part of me speaking, but I don’t know. I thought he just wanted to… to  _ prowl,  _ you know.’’ His nose scrunches up in something like distaste, aimed at himself.

‘’Someone like him, um, wouldn’t want to date… someone like me. Does he even date?’’ His gaze flickers around.  ‘’I mean- you get me, right? Or am I just… too prejudiced…’’ he struggles with the words.

‘’Of course I wanted him to fuck me, that was the plan and all, so that was all I had in my head, because I hadn’t expected him to want more,’’ he flaps a hand in the air. ‘’The fact that he wanted to bed me was somehow already too good to be true?’’

‘’I mean I’ve lusted for him for the past two months or more, and… uh… creeped a bit?’’ he plays with his fingers, twiddling his thumbs.

He nods with the words – ‘’I mean I know I can be a little creepy and a lackluster crushing teenager when, when I get one of these crushes… Yet I  **know** that I haven’t really felt like this before. And that’s- that’s a little scary, too? To want more than- to feel more than just a crush on someone I’ve barely talked with, or someone I feel a little afraid of as well.’’

Minseok and Baekhyun are silent all the while.

‘’You know,’’ Baekhyun starts, crinkling his nose. ‘’I should film this. It’s rare seeing you this honest and cute about your feelings, let me get my phone-‘’

Kyungsoo scowls, and Baekhyun laughs; ‘’all right, I’m kidding.’’

Minseok butts in. ‘’Well, Jongin  _ is  _ a reserved person, even more than you are.’’

‘’and that’s saying something,’’ Baekhyun leans a little down on the bed and over Kyungsoo’s legs, relaxing there.

The alpha continues: ‘’there’s not much other people know about him, save for the rumors and his reputation – which I honestly think is mostly build on his appearance, but Baekhyun is pretty good friends with some of his friends.’’

Kyungsoo perks up at this. ‘’Who?’’ he asks.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. ‘’It’s not like I’m some gossip girl, all right.’’

Minseok coughs.

‘’Okay, so I might like good news and all that, and I’m pretty good friends with Kibum, who is close to Taemin, who is close to Jongin. You get me?’’

‘’- Or, they’re all friends. Yeah. However, a long time ago Kibum told me about Jongin, or actually sort of complained about him- kind of like I did with you and your crush to him in return,’’ Kyungsoo huffs in between, ‘’and Kibum said that Jongin had gotten a  **_crush_ ** .’’

Kyungsoo’s eyes are narrowing. ‘’A crush? When was this?’’

‘’About… a little more than a month ago? Yeah.’’

‘’Why didn’t you tell me?’’ Kyungsoo mopes again.

‘’Hey, listen up. Kibum and I are self-proclaimed wingmen, right, and that stuff is tough shit. Most importantly, we’re not really supposed to interfere or push, only if necessary. We’re not supposed to reveal the stuff we tell each other.’’

‘’Aren’t you guys taking yourself a little too seri-‘’

Baekhyun cuts Kyungsoo off with a tight-lipped smile and danger in his eyes. ‘’Anyway,’’ he says.

‘’I know some stuff about Jongin, but I think it’s better you get to know it yourself – about who he is behind the stages, and so on. I can tell you that, yes, Jongin has had a crush for just about as long as you have, and by some twisted coincidence or not, the descriptions of your crushes match each other.’’

Kyungsoo’s heart flutter at this, and his omega shortly yowls, makes him feel a little jittery. Minseok moves a palm over his hand and strokes his knuckles, a soothing gesture coming from an alpha, dulling the reaction.

Baekhyun continues. ‘’And I told you a bit about Jongin before. He is-‘’

‘’A wizard.’’

Baekhyun looks over his shoulder.

‘’Chanyeol, get  **_the fuck_ ** outta here - we’re being sentimental,’’ he hollers, and Chanyeol stands in the doorframe, snickering.

‘’Heartless giants are not allowed here,  **_capisce_ ** ?’’ Baekhyun stares daggers, and the omega shrugs with a ‘’just wanted to see the corpse,’’ and goes out again, throwing one wave at Kyungsoo and a ‘’get better with that hangover.’’

It is silent again, with Minseok stifling a grin and Baekhyun muttering ‘’I swear to god I’m going to strangle that fucking walnut one day…’’

The beta shakes his head.

‘’Yeah, anyway. Jongin is not the type to be shy, but there is more behind the façade. And when it comes to-‘’ he stills with the words, licking his lips. ‘’As it seems, when it comes to you, the case is a little different.’’

Minseok nods. ‘’I’ve noticed, actually. In the cafeteria, at least. He sends you these… stares… and then quickly looks away when one of us notice.’’

Kyungsoo’s omega pines again, latches at his ribs, and he clutches one hand in the duvet.

‘’But here’s the thing.’’ Baekhyun elaborates. ‘’I’ve told you this before. Jongin asked for your number one time, but I didn’t tell you what happened then .’’

Kyungsoo is all ears, leaning a tad forward as if that will help him hear well.

‘’He looked sort of like a lost puppy, contrary to his usual looks, and tried to tell me something, but shook his head instead when I asked what was up. He first of all told me not to tell you that he asked for your number, but the last words was ‘ _ There’s a problem _ ’, but that’s it.’’

‘’ **_There’s a problem_ ** ?’’ Kyungsoo repeats, looking horror-stricken.

Minseok must have heard this before, because his gaze merely shifts between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

‘’I don’t know, really.’’ Baekhyun shrugs. ‘’I don’t think you should worry too much since he has asked to date you and all-‘’ he stops amidst it by seeing the look on Kyungsoo’s face. ‘’Maybe I shouldn’t have told you this.’’

Minseok puffs his cheeks. ‘’Rubbing some salt into the wound, isn’t it?’’

Baekhyun groans. ‘’I fucked up.’’

Kyungsoo interferes, shoulders hunched and voice small– ‘’… but there’s a problem?’’

Minseok takes his hand, eyes widening. ‘’Hey, hey. This was like a month ago or something, you know. The problem might have been that Jongin was too shy to take you on a date. It’s probably passed since he’s finally gotten the balls to ask you out.’’

Baekhyun latches a hand onto his own face. ‘’I made things worse,’’ he sighs.

Minseok laughs, but it is fond. ‘’I think the rest is up to Kyungsoo now, let’s just say that.’’ He gives Baekhyun’s side a gentle pinch with his free hand.

The beta nods, smiling too, though it falters and becomes serious then as he regards Kyungsoo again, pointing a finger at him. ‘’And you-‘’ he says,

‘’Need to find Jongin. You don’t need to do it today, but if you lie in wait you’re going to drown in your thoughts. It’s up to you. You don’t need to apologize either, but tell him about your pheromones or your condition. It will make dating easier as well.’’

‘’Should I apologize for dancing with the alphas then?’’ Kyungsoo sounds worried.

Baekhyun shakes his head, and Minseok speaks, ‘’You’re not a thing yet. You have the right to go dance or kiss other alphas. You’ve held yourself back from Jongin, sure, but Jongin has done just as much. Just because he’s a pure-bred alpha you’re attracted to, or that he is possessive around you, it doesn’t mean he owns you or you owe him anything.’’

Kyungsoo shrugs, scratching the back of his head. ‘’So,’’ he mumbles. ‘’I have to find him and say yes- about the dating thing? And tell him about my… about my pills. Or the incoming heat and all.’’

‘’You should get to know each other, that is what,’’ Baekhyun corrects him. ‘’but yes. Find him, date him. Eventually fuck like rabbits because I can only imagine that’s what happens once you get your shit going again.’’

Kyungsoo laughs, this time. ‘’Right, okay. That’s easy.’’

It is not easy.

He ends up moping in his room for the rest of the weekend, and Baekhyun allows him this time, because Kyungsoo needs to take the things in.

However, after the rutting session at the party, and after the little confession from Jongin, Kyungsoo’s omega has been pining.

More than the usual.

In addition, the usual pining through the months was distracting and annoying enough as it was, but pining without the pills and with a coiling in the stomach only doubles it, now with the memory of Jongin’s clothed cock pressing against the underside of his thigh from when he had been grinding on him.

Therefore, Kyungsoo stares at the ceiling most of the time, and he roams on Facebook and looks at Jongin’s private profile page at least thirty times, wondering if he should send a request – wondering if the talk would be easier through the internet.

Yet he also knows that he wants Jongin to see how honest he is.

About dating.

Even if it is a little scary, or if the thought about being rejected continues to pinch.

Because Jongin had actually looked crestfallen, as far as Kyungsoo remembers, when the omega began to cry and threw a tantrum.

Kyungsoo even looks out of the window to his dorm during the next day and by accident spots Jongin walk around on campus, dangerously close to his part of the building.

Jongin stops though, looking tense, and then walks away.

It happens, twice, and maybe more than that where Kyungsoo has not caught the act through one of the big windows right next to his work desk, seeing as he has caved in with a blanket around himself, distracted himself with doing assignments and studies.

He still wants to touch himself, to do something about the warmth trailing inside his veins, now that he is by himself and just mopes around.

What he needs though is not the sexual pheromones right now, with an incoming and harsh heat waiting around the corner, just waiting to ambush his bones and make him cave in for real.

He receives a message though.

From an unknown number.

‘ **_Hope you’re okay_ ** ’ it says, as the only thing, and Kyungsoo does not know who it is from, but his gut is clenching and he hides his head in the blanket and throws himself on his bed, thinking about hugs and cuddles, and much more from a certain alpha, not knowing what to answer.

He knows that this month is just one that is to be fought through, and then things will get better.

He wonders if it would be easier if he just cancelled the next freight of suppressants, the ones specifically made to hide his identity. All of his friends, or most of them, have already noticed that he is an omega.

None of them has said anything,  _ have _ taunted him a bit, but that is all.

Kyungsoo has been surprised, because he thought he was fit to be a beta; that it was better.

However, being a beta is not better.

Being oneself is. Just the way Kyungsoo was born.

Being born into something does not mean he has to stick to the rules or to the stereotypes, even if it is okay if one does.

Being an omega is not a bad thing, and does not mean he cannot be fire and fiery during tantrums or means that being shy or in need to receive contact and cuddling is cliché and stupid.

Kyungsoo is just the one who has told himself that, because of the stereotypes looming around, the ones that do not match up on reality – because the statutes are not meant to define a personality trait, but actions, urges, some biological means, and nothing more.

He slowly starts to realize that what he did at the party is just a snitch of what other people have done. It is understandable.

Therefore, he gathers his courage, and decides that on Tuesday where he has dance practice, he is going to confess to Jongin – for real.

Kyungsoo barely makes it through Monday.

He spends it rephrasing what he wants to say, and it irks his nerves. He keeps looking around to see if Jongin might be somewhere, might spot him.

Despite Baekhyun’s words, there is still doubt.

‘ _ There is a problem _ ’, Jongin was assumed to have said – the bad side.

‘ _ The descriptions of your crushes match each other _ ’ – the good side.

‘ _ I think we should date first _ ’ – Jongin’s own words.

Now the day has come, though.

Kyungsoo stands before the usual practice rooms in the new halls when the final moment draws near, wondering if he should go in.

As he has done before, he unscrews the lid on the bottle of his scent suppressant pills, pops two in his mouth, and swallows them dry.

His pheromones have grown worse in smell lately, and Minseok nearly toppled over in the weekend when he came in to check up on Kyungsoo again and was hit by a sweet, pungent smell that made his nostrils flare and veins protrude on his throat.

Kyungsoo’s stomach has been feeling weird as of lately, too, and he has been sweating a lot.

He jolts though when a familiar voice chimes in, and it is Jongdae meeting up as late as Kyungsoo, as per the usual. They have made a ritual of standing out here for a little talk before going in.

Kyungsoo is not spitfire today.

The playful remark on Jongdae’s tongue dies down when he comes closer, dressed for practice, because he can probably see that Kyungsoo looks a little distressed now – weary too, must smell like it just as much.

‘’What’s up, bedhead?’’ he greets, ruffling Kyungsoo’s hair. Kyungsoo leans into the touch, because the presence of another alpha is strangely soothing, more than the usual. The added hypersensitivity towards everyone around him has been making him tired too.

‘’I need a thousand hugs,’’ he says, lips puckered in a sad pout.

Jongdae raises his brows in something akin to surprise, but complies nonetheless, cooing as if he is tending a baby as he pulls Kyungsoo to his chest. ‘’Naw,’’ he says. ‘’Feeling a little down? Was it a rough party? I saw you got it going with some alphas there.’’

Kyungsoo sighs; loud and exaggerated as he sheds his usual reluctance and buries his head in Jongdae’s shoulder. It is not what he needs – Jongdae does not smell like the one he needs, but it will do. It puts him at ease and dulls the knots of anxiety in his stomach for a while.

‘’You poor party animal,’’ Jongdae mock kisses Kyungsoo’s temple, giving his butt a pat with the hand that is not holding Kyungsoo close.¨

He urges Kyungsoo into the dance studio, opening the door to let the omega get in first, a hand on his lower back to guide him because Kyungsoo seems as if he cannot get himself to move.

They step in, and the most of the crew is already there, talking to one another and some stretching before they are ought to go at it.

Kyungsoo has planned everything, how he will pull Jongin to the side and ask for a moment or wait until they are done with practice, but it diminishes when he walks in.

One pungent scent blares in the room that riles his insides, but he is still looking at the floor due to how his heart is beating rapidly and a lump lodges in his throat.

The specific scent somehow only grows stronger the more Jongdae’s hand rests on Kyungsoo’s lower back, and seconds later Jongdae flinches and retracts it, instead nudging Kyungsoo ahead with a shoulder.

Kyungsoo sets his stuff down along the wall where the others materials lie, and Jongdae standing before him gives him a worried look, gaze flickering from Kyungsoo to the other corner of the room like he is sensing an atmosphere. He can probably smell it on Kyungsoo as well.

He goes away all of sudden, heading over to Junmyeon, his mate, who was otherwise headed to the two of them.

Kyungsoo knows why, because that one smell different from the other tunes in on him and makes his body shudder. It is accompanied by footsteps – sneakers with quick but heavy steps walking over the polished floor, heading Kyungsoo’s way, its squeaking resounding in his ears.

He senses Jongin’s presence before he feels it, how a warm and big palm lands on his bicep, curling around there.

Kyungsoo does not need to look behind him before he is being tugged in, lead outside the room just as he had come.

His feet move on their own, and as much as he feels like he might just buckle from the anxiety, a blanket of comfort drapes over him though his omega is struggling.

Jongin’s hand slides down and rests on Kyungsoo’s lower back instead.

The door behind them clicks shut, and they stand in the hall.

Kyungsoo’s lips feel dry, and he licks them nervously, turning around.

Jongin looks different today.

Nothing about his appearance has changed, but his hair is messier – his mouth is set in a tight line, he has bags under his eyes and he looks tired, the look in his eyes hard for a reason Kyungsoo does not know.

He looks rather stressed, and he is wearing a muscle shirt with his shoulders bared. Kyungsoo can see how a sheen of sweat beads along the collarbones, meaning Jongin must already have exerted something physical before practice, might have been in the studio for a longer period before the others came.

His tattoos are as frightening but fascinating as always, rounding up along his neck and down his shoulders and arms.

Kyungsoo has lost his words, and she shrinks a bit into himself, not knowing what to say. He looks up, and he knows he must look just as tired, hair messy too and eyes owl wide, breath caught in his throat.

They stand like that for a while, in front of each other, just looking – tension building in the atmosphere.

Kyungsoo is about to open his mouth, but is muffled when he is enveloped in a warm embrace, his face pressed into a sweaty but warm chest. He hears an audible exhale of a breath close to his ear as Jongin buries his face in the side of Kyungsoo’s throat, leaning down.

Jongin curls Kyungsoo into himself, clutching him in his embrace as if he never wants to let go, and inches closer and closer, nosing at the skin before him until his septum scrapes there.

Kyungsoo’s brain goes blank for a while, but then something wells up inside him and he circles his arms around Jongin’s waist, hands fisted in the muscle shirt on the back while he digs himself into Jongin, standing so close that a thigh slides between his own two.

He lets out a barely audible stutter of a sigh and starts rubbing his face against Jongin’s chest and a collarbone, feeling dumbstruck by the way he feels comforted and jittery at the same time.

Urges build up within him, but he also relishes in the other’s presence. The anxiety dies down and all he can focus on is getting his desired alpha’s scent on him, to get closer.

They stand like that for a while, and even if the hold hurts a bit, Kyungsoo closes his eyes and lets his omega take over.

Jongin lets go after a while though, just barely so that they can see each other’s faces. He does not lean in to do more, even if it looks like he wants to, jaw setting and eyes still hard.

‘’You okay?’’ he asks, voice gravelly – sounding pained.

Kyungsoo nods, though he is unsure.

‘’I-‘’ he is about to apologize, but he remembers he should not.

So instead, he goes straight to the deal.

‘’I want to date you,’’ he says, and their foreheads are bumping, Jongin’s nostrils flaring for a moment.

‘’I mean- I was- my pheromones are very-‘’ he gulps, ‘’my pheromones are kind of crazy right now, it’s a longer story, and I only thought you wanted to bed me, so I guessed that it was what we should do- right- and uh- I was drunk and I didn’t know what you were saying, and-‘’

Jongin stops him with a stern ‘’Kyungsoo.’’

Kyungsoo holds his breath.

‘’It’s fine,’’ Jongin wets his lips, adams apple bobbing up and down as he swallows. He still has his arms around Kyungsoo, their legs and other regions grounded. ‘’I was just worried,’’ he says, and the hard look from before dims down.

‘’I can tell your hormones have been crazy as of lately. First you smell like a beta then an omega, and then like you’re in heat and then nothing,’’ he breathes out. ‘’There’s-‘’ he tries, ‘’there’s a lot I don’t understand.’’

‘’You’re fucking with my mind sometimes,’’ he chuckles to himself, short and a little curious, maybe shy, but he does not look as tense as he was before. ‘’I’ve been stressed because-‘’ he stops amidst it though, sounding like there is something he wants to say.

He shortly looks away and then back, and whatever he wanted to say is pulled back between his teeth instead. ‘’Because I’ve been worried about you,’’ he says then.

There is more to it – more to the way he holds Kyungsoo with a protective hold as he pulls Kyungsoo to his chest again. ‘’Let me just-‘’ he takes another break,

‘’Let me just hold you like this. Just- like this, so…. So I can get peace to my mind.’’

He leans in and takes a whiff at Kyungsoo’s throat, rubbing his nose and mouth there.

Kyungsoo says a small ‘’okay’’ and lets Jongin cuddle him, lets Jongin stroke a hand down his back and hug him tighter.

His heart has calmed down.

There are many things that he wants to ask, so much he wants to know, a lot he is afraid to say about himself, the worrying about his incoming and abnormal heat and that he should in fact stay within a reasonable distance when it comes to Jongin, since it might be triggered.

Yet there is also the knowledge that now they are dating.

He knows nothing about Jongin, cannot read him either, but he knows that there is more than lust in regards to what he wants, what he has wanted for a long time.

He forgets everything that has happened since he first saw him, the upcoming heat and fragility, the worries, the party, the mentioned problem, and the teasing Kyungsoo did not understand.

He knows that they are dating, and that they can start anew like this. That is what matters to him, right now.

They skip dancing.

Jongin deliberately walks in amidst practice since they have been out there for long, and says to Taemin ‘’I’ll be off today.’’

When Taemin sees Kyungsoo stand with his stuff too in the doorframe, he squints his eyes and looks victorious and Cheshire-like, wrenching his hands like a mastermind having it his way.

‘’Have fun,’’ he answers, and when the other members ask about where Jongin is going, Taemin tells them to focus.

‘’We’re going on a date— _ now _ ?’’ Kyungsoo sounds incredulous.

It is not too late, but they should have been to practice, and Jongin is currently guiding them out of the building and to the campus area.

‘’Yeah, go get your clothes and we can head to the coffee shop at the food chains.’’ He stops in the middle of another stride, turning around.

He gets that troubled look on his face again, as if he is unaware of how he is to treat a date. ‘’If you want to, I mean?’’ he clears his throat.

Kyungsoo takes a moment to let the words seep in, and then he jolts. ‘’ **Yes** !’’ he says, nearly shrieks. ‘’I mean yes, I want to! Yes!  _ Let’s _ go on a date,’’ he jumbles with the words, a pretty blush spreading on his cheeks.

His omega is rumbling within, palms clammy and the sweating starts again.

The warmth that has been haunting him since the party returns, and he feels a little hazy, but he is too excited and dazed out to worry about it.

Jongin still stands there, and a strange look crosses his face, nostrils flaring again as if he is picking up on something.

He draws a hand up and holds the back of  it against Kyungsoo’s forehead, surprising the younger.

‘’You’re burning up,’’ he says, voice a murmur.

Kyungsoo blinks. ‘’It’s nothing, really.’’ He gets a little impatient. He wants to date.

‘’We- we can still go. Let’s go,’’ he says again, and tugs in Jongin’s shirt, surprising himself by how bold he is.

They are not holding hands, even if their fingers brush every now and then.

They only just started dating, after all, and Jongin looks like he is really serious about this ‘ _ get-to-know-each-other-before-we-do-the-unspoken-horizontal-tango _ ’, as if they are stepping into a future marriage proposal.

Even though they have been standing for about a half hour and nuzzled each other, scenting and cuddling, they act like mere acquaintances now, though Jongin sometimes rests a hand on Kyungsoo’s back or leans in close. His words are different from his actions in this matter.

Jongin needs to take a quick shower first, and even if it is a casual date, Kyungsoo looks through his whole wardrobe to find something profitable.

They meet again outside at one of the benches, and Jongin with wet hair looks good too in Kyungsoo’s perspective, smelling fresh and vaguely of axe deodorant, wearing jeans and an olive green shirt and a leather jacket, whereas Kyungsoo has stepped into a sweater with a collar and something a little finer and warmer.

They meet with a little greeting, and even if it is awkward at first, it gets comfortable later on.

Jongin guides them to a little café that is well known amongst college students, a cozy place where they can order some coffee and find a place to sit in the corner where not many can see them.

Jongin pulls Kyungsoo’s chair out for him, orders for him too, and generally coddles him, in a way that makes Kyungsoo’s heart funny, because he would not accept this treatment from anyone else.

Kyungsoo cannot read Jongin.

Jongin says they should become friends first, but their feet nudge under the table, Jongin being the one to initiate it.

He does sweet things, but his face expressions are at minimum and do not add up to when he says ‘’is this okay?’’ or when he says that he likes Kyungsoo’s sweater.

He restricts his cursing and, like at the dance practice where they were alone, he speaks gently instead, or tries to.

Kyungsoo is the one who smiles and thanks the waiter when she comes over to give them their order, while Jongin looks deadpan.

The feeling he gets when Jongin sits before him is nice, making him ignore the ache in his stomach that slowly starts to surface.

‘’Tell me if I’m coming on too strong...’’ Jongin starts, after the conversation has been light and about their current dance program.

‘’But… why did you smell like a beta in the beginning?’’

Kyungsoo puts the cup in his hand down and he thinks a bit about the question.

He has not dated before.

The first dates are always about keeping the partner interested. Make up some light lies or make yourself sound more interesting to keep them hooked.

Yet Kyungsoo decides to be honest.

‘’I wasn’t proud of being an omega at first, no matter how much I told myself it had nothing to do with that,’’ he says.

Jongin’s furrow his brows, adjusting his seat, all ears.

Kyungsoo continues. ‘’I don’t know, really. To you I might look submissive given… given some circumstances, but throughout the most of my life I’ve never been the pliant type, despite being…’’ he looks down into his cup and at the latte sloshing there.

‘’…being insecure.’’

His shoulders slump a bit. ‘’I guess people saw me for being something else. Or maybe that was something I made up in my head. Moreover, I’ve always been really stubborn – like a mule. I’ve always been awkward but had a keen temper. I’ve always been shy but hardheaded, I suppose.’’

He tilts his head, looking down himself and at his fingers now pinching at the edge of his jacket whose sleeves he has bunched around his waist.  ‘’It’s changed though, ever since I came to the college here and I met different people than those I had been with for the most of my life. I got to be myself, I guess. There was more space for me to be me, and when my identity was revealed, nobody laughed, like some did in my old class at the thought of me being an omega.’’ His voice is not bitter but not light either.

He looks up, and Jongin has never taken his eyes off him.

‘’It makes me feel weak that I’m this shy, or get the urge to… to submit or to be cuddled, to be taken care of, even if all I’ve done for the past months has been to whine and give in, because my life has sort of been rumbled upside down with the happenings here. With meeting Baekhyun who literally forced me to wake up and called me ‘hella fake’ the moment I came in, even before he knew of me being an omega.’’

‘’It’s only recently that I’ve been taken off the… the suppressants.’’

‘’Those that hide your status?’’ Jongin asks.

Kyungsoo nods. ‘’Yeah.’’

He thinks he hears Jongin say ‘ _ that explains it _ ,’ but what Jongin elaborates with is a: ‘’This means you’re only getting in touch with your nature as of now.’’

The omega blinks. ‘’I never thought about it like that.’’

He knows that the upcoming heat will be extra harsh and that he has to make up for a lot, but he tends to forget that a lot of attributes will follow along with it, mood swings and varied kinds of hormones, those he has tried to shy away from for years.

‘’Since you’ve suppressed it, a shit ton of it will flounder back and pull you through what you’ve kept at bay for years – not just when it comes to the heat periods, but your nature as well. That’s risky,’’ he says, head tilted, though he stops and bites his lower lip. ‘’Sorry for the language,’’ he amends it.

Kyungsoo cannot help the smile that curls on his lips. ‘’I’m tough, I can handle it.’’

Jongin laughs, though it is short and more likely a chortle.  It must be the first time Kyungsoo has heard him do so, and it makes him want to hear much more.

‘’You are,’’ Jongin says, and he sounds sincere, face expression unmoving though. ‘’You shouldn’t be ashamed of being who you are. What I know is that there are these fuckers around town, mostly alphas, who look down on them and think they know shit. But they don’t, and that’s final. I’ve dealt with them before.’’

Kyungsoo feels himself grow mellow inside at the indirect praise. It feels nice that Jongin just listens, even if Kyungsoo has spilled something vulnerable about himself.

He catches the last sentence though.

‘’Dealt with them?’’ he repeats.

Jongin raises a brow. Then he remembers. ‘’Yeah. It was stupid. It was in my first year, a little scrape that started the first rumors people have about me. My friend, Sehun, an omega, was bullied for his lisp. These hotheaded alphas kept around and spouted crap, and it just turned worse with time, and it began to corner his status too.’’

‘’Was it constant, or?’’

‘’No. It happened occasionally, and I was never there because Sehun was on a different program when it happened. Sehun is a tough nut, but he is not invincible. The shit they spat got to him, but he wouldn’t tell me who did it.’’

Kyungsoo finds himself astounded by the scowl on Jongin’s face, the way his knuckles whiten when his hands ball into fists and he looks angry about the memory.

‘’Anyway, one day I followed him to his classes and I saw them poke at him in the hall.’’

He says nothing more than that.  The look in Jongin’s eyes is enough to tell Kyungsoo what happened.

‘’It was the first time I got into a fight, really.’’

‘’The first time?’’

‘’I don’t fight people. I’m not a violent person,’’ Jongin takes a sip. ‘’Or a part of a gang,’’ he gets a playful crook at the corner of his lips, and Kyungsoo chuckles.

‘’But people have different ideas about me because of my looks.’’

There is a lot Kyungsoo is yet to know about Jongin, he realizes.

He pulls in the collar of his shirt, since it is feels like the room is getting hotter and he has to wet his lips as they have gone dry. He focuses on Jongin again, finding himself drawn.

‘’I’ve teased you, I know,’’ Jongin starts, running a hand through his own puffy hair that has gotten dry now since the air outside has been cold and humid considering how close winter is getting.

He must refer to the few times where they have interacted. At the vending machine, in the class, during dance practice and about the time Kyungsoo forgot his pencil.

‘’I didn’t really know what else to do,’’ Jongin admits, and there is a scowl on his face but not really. Kyungsoo thinks it might look like color is creeping onto the tanned cheeks, or maybe it is just him seeing wrong.

‘’But I realized it rather made me look like a shithead of an alpha too.’’

He looks up and into Kyungsoo’s eyes. ‘’So I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to. You just seemed scared of me, and talking to you was difficult because you always looked away when I wanted eye contact, and looked at me when I looked the other way, you know?’’

Kyungsoo cannot help but to laugh, because it is true, even though his cheeks are heating up.

‘’I’m not special, Soo,’’ Jongin suddenly says, sounding strangely troubled.

‘’Most rumors out there aren’t true. I wanted to keep it up and to poke at you because it seemed like you relied heavily on them. Like most, it feels like you saw me for someone else. Even if I know it’s partly my fault for not looking so friendly when it comes to my attitude and language too.’’

Kyungsoo only listens, eyes attentive despite the throbbing in the back of his head that is slowly ebbing in.

Jongin leans forward, breathing out. ‘’I’ve been nervous-‘’ he looks down, then up again.

‘’I’ve been nervous if you liked Kai or me. Because-‘’ a vulnerable look crosses Jongin’s eyes, ‘’I’m mundane.’’

‘’There’s nothing about me, Soo. I’ve lived an average life, have parents who are still together and have two older sisters who tease me. I’ve had smaller midlife problems that come with growing up. I like dancing and I study economics, and that is all,’’ he pauses.

He licks his lips again, fingers lightly drumming on the edge of the table. ‘’I don’t fight people. I don’t have a tragic background story, and I’m not a mysteriously attractive charm figure who knows how to hook girls around my pinky finger. I’m pretty much introverted and mainly speak to people in my own small group because bigger lots make me nervous. I look stony ‘cause that’s how I built myself through time.’’

Kyungsoo senses there is something familiar in the words. Of being two-sided, misunderstood.

‘’I study my shit and get good grades, I party sometimes and I yes I have fucked some here on the campus as the rumors say, as most college students do, but I don’t reject them in the aftermath because I’m hard to get. I do it ‘cause they see Kai, and not ‘Jongin’. I’m-‘’ he tongues the inside of his cheek, considering his words.

‘’I’m not always shy, but people make me nervous. I look like I don’t give a fuck, and I mostly don’t, but there are times I do, especially when people think they want to get close to me, and I’m… afraid they won’t like what they see.’’

‘’I’m not a  _ bad boy _ ,’’ he says.  ‘’I just like tattoos and piercings, and don’t talk much but curse a lot. Sometimes I’m cold and maybe a bit harsh but I wouldn’t hurt you, not you.’’

He plays with the spoon in his cup. ‘’Then I happened to beat up those guys when I was in my first year and since then I got into some smaller incidents, but that’s it.’’

Kyungsoo takes it all in.

‘’Have you…,’’ he licks his lips, ‘’have you been afraid I wouldn’t like you – as you are?’’

It is put into a few words.

Jongin looks away and down at their feet tangling under the table, and Kyungsoo feels like curling up at his side. He has been attracted to Jongin because of Jongin, his presence itself, his smaller quirks – even if he knew nothing about Jongin, had been insecure about himself and had looked up to him.

Nevertheless, he also understands that other people must have acted scared around Jongin too, or thought he was a hard-to-get type with no feelings and no fucks to give.

In the end, Kyungsoo might have been one of them.

‘’I’m sorry,’’ he says, and Jongin looks up, confused for a moment.

‘’So far, I can’t really explain it. But I like you, because you’re you. I’ve- I’ve thought the same as others, I know. But I think you’re interesting as you are, whether you… whether you’ve killed a man or not or- or robbed a bank or lost your ten children in a fire, I don’t know…,’’ Kyungsoo fidgets, and he struggles a bit with his words because his tongue feels thick in his mouth.

He wants to reason with Jongin, and to tell him how honest he is about dating Jongin, the Jongin who gave him his lost pencil, let him see his tattoos, suggested Pomegranate Ice tea, the one who helped with dance lessons and worried himself sick for Kyungsoo.

That is the one Kyungsoo likes.

Yet he feels his eyes grow bleary and the words die in his throat, and he slumps a little in his seat, grasping at the armrest. His head is throbbing and the earlier desires coil within him anew, making his breath puffy and sweat bead under his hairline.

He reaches a part of his inner monologue through his speech, he is not sure, can suddenly not remember what he is doing or where he is, and his omega is growling and tugging at his ribs.

He hears the scrape of Jongin’s stool when the alpha suddenly flies up and circles around the table to get Kyungsoo, before Kyungsoo falls down from his own chair.

His head is spinning, and he hears Jongin’s voice, a soothing melody to him, though he does not hear what is being said.

The last thing he sees is the blurry outline of Jongin’s face and a voice thrumming in the back of his head, along with the howls of his inner pining for more, for more and so much more.


	4. YOU SHOULD

 

Kyungsoo hears faint voices.

 

Some blurred, some prominent and some coming and going.

 

There’s some shouting too and he thinks he hears Baekhyun’s strict, serious tone faintly.

 

There’s only one voice Kyungsoo pays attention to though, one with a brusque undertone, which turns into a growl close to his ear until it’s gone again and leaves for an undefined time.

 

The days go by in a haze, and Kyungsoo’s not sure if he’s awake or if he’s dreaming throughout the time. 

 

Sometimes it is as if he wakes up to see dots in his sight, to a coiling heat in his stomach, and then there’s something cold on his forehead and a soothing voice in the room. It’s not the one he needs but one that’s there to support him anyway.

 

His mouth parts for a plea and he can’t see or feel anything certain, it’s a jumble of feelings— a need and a heat that spreads through his system and  his body shudders even if he can’t really feel it anyway. 

 

The voice in the room changes once in awhile and another that takes place, followed by the cold feeling on Kyungsoo’s forehead again and some more helpless noises from his own mouth. There’s a hand rubbing his stomach in small circles in some periods when he’s not cramping together.

 

Everything is just too warm, and there’s only one person on his mind, but the comforting smell and presence is gone, and his fingers clench and grasp to retrieve it to no avail.

 

‘’Kyungsoo?’’

 

The air is cool and crisp on Kyungsoo’s skin, and he mutters something unintelligible and turns his head, breathing in and out as if it’s the first time he’s gotten fresh air in decades.

 

His skin is warm nonetheless but it’s more bearable now. When he moves his feet a bit, sliding them over the firm but soft surface beneath him, he can feel his toes twitch as well.

 

‘’Kyungsoo?’’ the other voice says again and there’s a hand on his cheek, one cold just like the air, a contrast to the fever.

 

His sight is blurred at first, but what he sees after lots of blinking and a sluggish groan is the ceiling in his dorm room, and the first comprehensible words out of his mouth are: ‘’what happened?’’ 

 

It comes out like a croak and when he tries to sit up, he’s immediately pressed down, his head raised a bit by a hand scooping under his nape, and a glass of cold water is tipped against his mouth.

 

He drinks the content with reluctance at first, but finds that his throat is dry and he ends up drinking until his stomach temporarily feels full.

 

‘’Yixing?’’ Kyungsoo squints his eyes and rubs them with his hands, and this time he’s allowed to raise his torso on the bed.

 

‘’Welcome back,’’ Yixing warmly says and rubs Kyungsoo’s back, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

 

It’s strange.

 

It’s like when he woke from the party, except now he really can’t remember  _ anything _ , and he feels feeble like a newborn baby, but also as if he’s refreshed and the ache and dizziness is gone.

 

‘’What’s… what’s going on? What happened’’ Kyungsoo asks again, eyes still a little bleary.

 

Yixing takes the wet cloth from before and daps Kyungsoo’s forehead, cheeks, and collarbones with it, cleaning him from sweat. ‘’You went into your heat in the middle of a café visit, is what I was told.’’ 

 

Yixing is the only one who’s known about Kyungsoo’s condition from the start, since they came from the same hometown and grew up as neighbors. He deals with another study line and aims to become a nurse. 

 

Even if the two of them rarely get to see each other, they always eat together during  breaks at the cafeteria. Yixing is also friends with Baekhyun and Jongdae.

 

Some rubbles come back to Kyungsoo, particularly the conversation he had with Jongin before he blacked out.

 

‘’Where’s Jongin?’’ he then asks, only these two questions on his mind, though there’s most likely more to be told.

 

Yixing’s reaction is immediate, a cheeky smile, though he pulls it back and returns with a warm one instead. ‘’Let’s talk about you first,’’ he says and pokes Kyungsoo’s arm, and Kyungsoo murmurs something under his breath.

 

Yixing starts explaining that instead of getting a typical heat period, Kyungsoo got one that delved into a long fever instead and Kyungsoo has been partially unconscious for the past nine days, whereas the usual heat last for about four to five. Yixing was informed of Kyungsoo’s state by Baekhyun, and has since then come in whenever possible to take care of Kyungsoo.

 

The people at the registration desk have been informed as well, and a longer discussion has been going on when Kyungsoo’s parents were informed. Both of them wanted to come visit and take him home but were told by the campus nurses that Kyungsoo’s state was and is not fatal. It’s just something that ought to pass, something he’d have to heave through, a consequence of the pills he has deliberately consumed through time.

 

And it’s true, because when Kyungsoo checks his phone, he sees he’s got at least five text messages from his parents giving him encouraging speeches and a ‘Get well’ from his older brother. Maybe a scolding from his papa as well who’s all along said that hiding his status would end up bad in any matter.

 

‘’So you’ve been excused from your classes, and you’ve been registered as an omega in the program for now. The nurses have been here to check on you sometimes, and Baekhyun and I have come in as well. But, you’re through it now. You might still have some effects afterwards regarding sensitivity and it’s guaranteed the next heat might be a little harsh as well, but not with a fever.’’ 

 

It’s a lot to take in, but Kyungsoo just nods and looks down at his lap, relieved it’s over - feeling a bit jittery.

 

‘’Your freight has arrived, by the way,’’ Yixing sounds a little smug, and deep down he’s a prankster, the way he wafts a glass of pills in front of Kyungsoo, ‘’in case you’d want to suppress it again.’’

 

Nostalgic feelings well up in Kyungsoo when he sees them and hears the content clack against the glass surface, but there’s also a wrinkle on his nose and the thought that maybe it’s time to change course.

 

‘’Wait, they’re first supposed to come in half a month’s time-’’ Kyungsoo bids, stilled when Yixing plops it onto his lap. 

 

‘’These weren’t the freight, though— I found them in the back of your closet when I was looking for a new attire to you,’’ Yixing answers rather smoothly, raising a brow. ‘’You just haven’t noticed them, apparently.’’

 

Kyungsoo stills at this, and he bids a soft, perplexed ‘’oh.’’ 

 

For some reason, he’s pretty relieved about it, because through this a lot of things have happened.

 

He’s met Jongin, talked to Jongin.

 

He’s dating Jongin.

 

But he’s also gotten a new kind of acknowledgement, both from others, but most importantly— from himself.

 

‘’No,’’ he murmurs, and takes ahold of the bottle, shaking it a bit to hear its content clack around. He turns it up and then down, and holds it up in front of himself and his still dull eyes, crinkling his nose. 

 

‘’I don’t think I should use them anymore,’’ he says, and the time where he hasn’t used them has been relatively short, but many good things have come from it. A realization he might’ve wished he got years back. ‘’It’s okay that others do it… some might just not want to be an omega, and that’s fine too. But I think that I… should be one. I think I’m one, and I don’t want to change that.’’ 

 

Yixing sits on a chair beside the bed, his smile turning wider.

 

‘’I guess I… don’t want to pretend I’m not me anymore,’’ Kyungsoo continues, and he puts the bottle on the night stand. ‘’Regarding my behavior and attitude, I mean. Not that it’s necessarily linked to my status. But just in general. I should… let others take control, too, and all that… and relax some more, and… and show affection.’’

 

‘’Yeah?’’ the beta affirms it, raising a brow.

 

Kyungsoo looks up and their eyes lock in a gaze. Yixing and Kyungsoo might not spend much time together and didn’t do so in their childhood, but they’ve always had their moments. They’ve always looked out for each other when matters came to worse.

 

‘’Yeah,’’ Kyungsoo confirms.

 

Yixing gives his shoulder another gentle squeeze and raises himself to go to the kitchen dorm to get the omega some more water.

 

When he returns, Kyungsoo’s eyes are a little brighter, shoulders less slouched.

 

‘’Then,’’ he asks, fingers tangling in the duvet of the bed, ‘’then what about Jongin? Where is he?’’ 

 

He might feel a little urge to ask what’s happened in the fever period as well, but he can only guess that he might’ve uttered the same things, or name, over and over again in the haze.

 

‘’Jongin?’’ Yixing takes a seat again and cants the glass to Kyungsoo. ‘’I was told that he carried you to the campus. Luckily, Baekhyun was in your room. He’s using Minseok’s for now, by the way, but then he had taken care of you. Or, he tried to,’’ he explains, shrugging at the last bit and making a grimace.

 

‘’Tried to?’’ Kyungsoo stops drinking, arching his brows.

 

Yixing offers a meek smile. ‘’Jongin wouldn’t leave you, and he sort of… clutched you in his embrace and wouldn’t let anyone touch you even if he’d come to get help.’’

 

The omega knows he shouldn’t smile in this matter, but he can’t help the warmth in his cheeks and in his chest while he hides his mouth behind the top of the glass. 

 

‘’He… was very possessive—protective. They needed to get some other alphas, including Minseok, to get him out of the room and off campus to cool his head,’’ Yixing continues, looking a little puzzled. 

 

‘’It’s normal for an omega’s partner who’s an alpha, and in some cases betas, to be protective when the omega is in heat and thus vulnerable… but this was a bit over the top. As in, it was almost as if...’’

 

Kyungsoo tilts his head. ‘’As if what?’’ 

 

Yixing looks up, almost as if he’s startled that Kyungsoo is here, caught in his own speech. 

 

‘’Uh,’’ he says. ‘’No, it’s nothing,’’ he pats Kyungsoo’s knee through the duvet.

 

‘’Get some rest, would you?’’ he teases, and pokes Kyungsoo’s forehead, making Kyungsoo grumble and almost affectionately bite out after Yixing’s fingers.

 

Yixing leaves with a salute, saying he’s promised a study date this evening with his alpha, Luhan.

 

It starts out gradually, but as soon as Kyungsoo gets out of bed and gets to take a long, long shower, he feels much better.

 

He scrubs the sweat away and bit of stained cum and slick down his thighs, and breathes out while the water cascades down.

 

A smile tugs at the corners of his lips, wobbling there for minutes because when he checked his phone again before showering, he saw some messages he hadn’t noticed before.

 

It’s from the same sender like before, who wrote ‘ **_Hope you’re okay_ ** ’ after the party, who has now written it again with an added ‘ **_Don’t be hard on yourself when you wake up. Get some rest and take care_ ** ’. 

 

This time Kyungsoo answers, just with a little playful ‘ **_don’t worry, i’m stubborn like a mule, remember? just woke up and i’m feelin’ good_ ** ’

 

It’s fun to see that his own texting is a little skewed with no capitalization, while Jongin, as one who’s contrary, is all proper lines. 

 

When he comes back with a towel around his hips, he checks his phone again to see he has gotten another message, and he still hasn’t given Jongin’s contact a name.

 

He doesn’t see the message because he’s too busy adding emoticons to the ‘KyutieKai’ he’s spelled in the bar, though he nearly loses the towel bound by one hand on the hip when a gasp comes in from behind.

 

‘’ **You’re alive** !’’ is what he hears before he’s nearly tackled to the ground and inappropriate, peeky hands pet around and hug him close, his towel lost on the ground as he groans and mutters a ‘’ _ Baekhyun _ ....’’

 

‘’Thought you’d never see the daylight again,’’ the beta utters, looking smug but also somewhat relieved, running a hand through Kyungsoo’s wet hair, giving it a pet and afterwards saying a ‘’yuck’’ because his hand got wet. 

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

 

‘’I’m doing okay,’’ he says, now that he’s got his towel back and has recovered from Baekhyun looking like the reincarnation of the devil when just moments ago he had inched closer and said he would touch Kyungsoo’s dick and watch it shrivel up and die from a cootie infection.

 

They end up on the bed, thigh against thigh as they sit there, swinging their legs as if both of them aren’t  nineteen and Kyungsoo’s not turning twenty in a month or so since December is swinging in. They rub off a bit on each other to get familiar with their scents again, Kyungsoo relaxes when he knows he’s swept in comfort. 

 

They talk a bit about what’s happened while Kyungsoo was out cold, but there’s not been much other than the usual and some frat scandals or odd teachers or professors and some tutoring gone wrong. Kyungsoo has been excused from his classes anyway, and seemingly his dance practice as well.

 

‘’I thought he’d rip my head off, really,’’ Baekhyun talks about Jongin when Jongin had come in all craze-eyed with a lifeless, whimpering Kyungsoo in his embrace.

 

‘’Wow,’’ Kyungsoo mutters, scratching his nose, and he raises himself again to dress in the meantime.

 

‘’Where is he now?’’ he then asks, looking over his shoulder when he’s got a sweatshirt on, and remembers the text on his phone.

 

Baekhyun makes a gurgle. ‘’I haven’t seen him around, actually, though he has my number and he’s asked me to check up on you almost everyday. Like I’m not babysitting you already,’’ he rolls his eyes and removes some dirt on his sleeves, huffing.

 

‘’He hasn’t sent me a text today, though.’’

 

Kyungsoo feels his cheeks warm up again, and he can’t help that his fingers clutch in the hem of his shirt when he checks his phone and the screen lights up: 

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

‘ _ You’re a tough nut to crack, aren’t you? I’m glad you’re going steady.’ _

 

Because the next one says: 

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

‘ _ I miss you.’ _

 

And Jongin has clearly said they should start out dating in a casual manner, aiming to act like mere acquaintances at first— but he is apparently not one to live up to those words, or at least not in this regard.Kyungsoo feels his stomach blaze with a different heat, something scratching his skin from the inside, like a tug in his heart-strings.

 

‘’Who’s texting you?’’ Baekhyun is suddenly behind Kyungsoo, leaning in. 

 

‘’ _ Ooooooooh _ , so that’s  **_why_ ** ,’’ the beta wags his eyebrows until Kyungsoo has to push him away, the tip of his ears red while he murmurs that Baekhyun should mind his own business.

 

‘’Your lover boy misses you,’’ Baekhyun teases, but he’s the one who flies a meter in the air whenever his own phone buzzes to check if he’s got a message from Minseok.

 

‘’I miss him too,’’ Kyungsoo realizes, sitting down on his bed, still staring at the last message. ‘’It’s weird,’’ he scrolls down and goes to the first. ‘’I guess I still don’t know anything about him, and we’ve only had a few proper conversations outside dance practice,’’ he sighs. 

 

‘’But I feel like I’m in love?’’ 

 

Baekhyun gives him a long stare.

 

‘’In love?’’ he repeats, voice hollow, and Kyungsoo waits for a laugh.

 

It doesn’t come, though.

 

‘’I’d normally say, you know uh, that you should take it slow and stuff, right?’’ he offers, leaning back, giving Kyungsoo a somewhat soft look. ‘’Most of the time falling in love requires that you know a bit about each other and have a gist of what chemistry you share, which you get through spending time together…,’’

 

He pushes his thumbs together over his lap and sniffs, making the ‘meh’ expression, ‘’but sometimes I guess love doesn’t depend on a timeline, you know? I haven’t known Minseok for very long, and I know I say a lot about how beautiful Taeyeon is and all that, and she is, no doubt… but it’s Minseok I’m starstruck with, yanno?’’ He looks up. This is the first time he’s said it aloud, and there are times where he enters these modes.

 

‘’And it happened,’’ he snaps his fingers, ‘’just like that?’’  

 

He tongues the inside of his cheek. ‘’It was really sudden for me because I’m mostly all bluff and cheesy catchphrases and taunts, but Minseok… he really caught me, from the moment he told me… to shut up— with a glint in his eye,’’ he laughs, and Kyungsoo joins. 

 

‘’Sometimes love is just love, I guess. You’d fall in love with a chemistry and find that there’s a good atmosphere and connection too, and it doesn’t depend on how much time you’ve spent together or how much you know about each other. It’s just about your heart and the way it flips, how you feel like the person before you  _ sees you _ — and  _ respects you _ , right?’’

 

Kyungsoo listens and he hasn’t answered Jongin yet, but holds his phone in his hand. 

 

‘’I guess sometimes it doesn’t have to be so complicated. It doesn’t matter if the love is brief or if it lasts…, as long as it changes you, or adds to you and your story, and makes you feel good or challenges you whether it’s for a moment or for a lifetime,’’ Baekhyun finishes with a shrug.

 

‘’Naw,’’ Kyungsoo’s smile is skewed. ‘’You’re a little romantic at heart, aren’t you?’’

 

Baekhyun fumes at this, taking his shoe to throw it like he does whenever Kyungsoo accidentally barges in on Baekhyun and Minseok having a ‘moment’.

 

‘’I liked you better when you were piss drunk and love deprived,’’ the beta taunts, but Kyungsoo knows it’s all bluff.

 

He goes over, and normally it’s the opposite situation, but now he flumps over Baekhyun and snuggles close.

 

Baekhyun grumbles something unintelligible under his breath. ‘’It’s about time you and Jongin fuck the tension out anyway. I’d honestly say you guys have pined for each other for months so you guys better get your asses going.’’

 

‘’Yeah yeah, whatever you say,’’ Kyungsoo nips at Baekhyun’s throat and Baekhyun snarls but smiles nonetheless.

 

Later, Kyungsoo texts Jongin with a:

 

**From: x**

 

‘ _ i miss you even more.’ _

  
  


People don’t say much when Kyungsoo comes back, and most already know he’s an omega from the prior hectic pheromones that once in awhile flared in between the mild scent suppressants. He has a wide spread of friends but mostly just a few close ones, and they don’t comment and  ruffles his hair instead. 

 

Jongdae gives him a pat on his shoulder and a tight squeeze, Minseok hugs him and coddles him almost like a concerned parent, Chanyeol high-fives him and says ‘’good going’’, and Junmyeon basically congratulates him for winning the hormone war. 

 

There’s some scenting since Kyungsoo has been absent for a while, but nonetheless things go back to normal. Kyungsoo is ought to go to the infirmary as well and get his papers checked, and there’s some extra homework he’s told to read up on.

 

Furthermore, he finds relief in the fact that the fear of being laughed at is something that he’s build inside his head, and even when one peer comments on Kyungsoo’s different smell, Jongdae is glaring cautious daggers right next to Kyungsoo in their class.

 

However, as the upcoming days go by, Kyungsoo comes to realize that Jongin isn’t on campus, or around at all, not even in their shared classes. He hasn’t thought too much about it even if something within him has pined and yowled, most likely his deprived omega, because he’s had his cellphone where he’s texted with Jongin nonstop and that in itself has made him feel giddy enough for the time.

 

He’s about to text the latter about it in the cafeteria when he spots Taemin, Jongin’s best friend, on the way, who’s sitting by himself for now at one of the tables.

 

Kyungsoo licks his lips and looks around, and it doesn’t seem like anything would interrupt them if he went over and talked to him. He hasn’t talked directly to Taemin before except for some smaller bits in dance practice, but for once he feels courages though he takes a couple of minutes to gather his courage.

 

‘’Uh,’’ he says when he’s close enough, tapping his fingers lightly on his thighs, adjusting the strap on his bag with the other. 

 

Taemin looks up, about to take the next bite of his sandwich, and raises a brow, ‘’huh?’’ he says rather unattractively, a chicken slice hanging from the corner of his mouth with some dressing too. 

 

Kyungsoo’s mind blanks for a bit until Taemin puts the sandwich down and wipes his mouth, flicking some hair out of his eyes, ‘’Kyungsoo, right?’’ he says, the smile on his face attractive compared to the tone he used and the way he crinkles his nose in a strange way.

 

‘’Oh, yeah,’’ Kyungsoo looks around, wondering if it’s okay if he takes a seat.

 

Taemin answers without being questioned and pats the spot next to him, ‘’come sit,’’ he says, ‘’I’m not as vile as the rumors say,’’ and there’s a glint in his eyes too.

 

He’s a bit like Jongin and playful too, but in a different way— less bite and more prank. 

 

‘’I was just, uh,’’ Kyungsoo shrugs before saying much, ‘’I was just wondering if you knew where Jongin is?’’

 

Taemin makes the ‘ah’ grimace. ‘’The big bad wolf is visiting his parents right now. Or is at home, not in his apartment outside campus, at least. Thought he told you?’’

 

Kyungsoo furrows his brows. He barely knew Jongin has an apartment outside campus. ‘’No he hasn’t. I mean, we’ve texted a lot the past days, but I guess… I don’t know. I just haven’t seen him around— I didn’t think about it until now.’’ 

 

Taemin shrugs and picks some salad from the sandwich, munching on it, and he’s always looked a little cold or maybe smug from afar, but up close he’s approachable once one has come into the inner-circle of this link. It makes Kyungsoo realize that he might’ve already been discussed among Jongin’s friends as well, that he’s got a part there too.

 

‘’No need to worry, really. He got his panties in a bunch like a week ago after he told me you went into heat, all riled up and stressed,’’ he offers. ‘’I can understand why, though.’’

 

The omega inches a little closer. ‘’Understand why? What? Why’d he go home?’’ He’s not sure if they’re on the same page anymore.

 

Taemin looks up, bite from his sandwich gouging his left cheek while he mutters a small ‘oh’. ‘’He hasn’t told you yet, has he?’’ he murmurs through sluggish chewing. 

 

Kyungsoo blinks. ‘’Told me— uh, told me what?’’

 

Then there’s that trademark smile on Taemin’s lips from the dance practice whenever Jongin darted off with Kyungsoo to be alone. 

 

The beta licks his lips and daps a napkin around his mouth. ‘’What? I don’t know,’’ he says, suddenly changing subject, playing oblivious, eyes wide.

 

‘’Wait but you just—’’

 

‘’Man, this chicken is good,’’ he holds the wrap out to Kyungsoo, ‘’want a bite?’’ 

 

Kyungsoo’s lips tighten in a line, but he’s not really bothered, just a bit nagged. He can see that there’s something playful in Taemin’s eyes, and this is a thing Kyungsoo has to solve himself, it says.

 

So Kyungsoo does what Kyungsoo does best, and he snatches the rest of the sandwich and raises himself, ‘’yes, thank you,’’ and goes off with a wave, a sweet smile and a ‘’have a nice day, Taemin,’’ while Taemin incredulously looks at his open hand where the sandwich one was, though there’s a skewed smile on his lips and a small chuckle bubbling there in the aftermath.

 

**From: x**

 

_ ‘talked to taemin and he said you were home?? aren’t you missing out on your lessons! you’ll get absence!! _

 

￣ ³￣’

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

‘ _ Yeah, that’s right. I have a reason, though. I’ll be back tomorrow so I can explain it then.’ _

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

_ ‘Wait did you first notice I’ve been gone now?’ _

 

**From: x**

 

_ ‘( _ _ ╥ _ ﹏ ╥ _ ) uh...’ _

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

_ ‘Kyungsoo...’ _

 

**From: x**

 

_ ‘well i don’t know!! i mean i’ve been clinging to my phone and i have you here so i didn’t think further than that since uh yanno a lot has been on my mind _ !’

 

 **From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

‘ _ I’m just kidding. Don’t worry, babe.’ _

 

‘’He called me  **_babe_ ** already!’’ Kyungsoo howls, face as red as a tomato as he stares wide-eyed at the screen, and Baekhyun nearly flies off his bed and falls over a forlorn bag on the way over to Kyungsoo’s desk, staring at the screen like a madman.

 

‘’He officially wants to fuck you,’’ Minseok helpfully says from the bed, and Baekhyun screams a ‘ **_ah-hah_ ** !’ 

 

‘’I fucking knew it,’’ he fist pumps the air and jumps on the bed, and Minseok moves with the action but continues reading his paragraphs. 

 

‘’He’s ready,’’ Baekhyun continues,’’When he comes back I bet he storms in and sends Kyungsoo right into a brand new heat and—’’ he’s muffled by Minseok who drags him onto his lap with a hand over Baekhyun’s mouth like an assassinator. 

 

‘’Remember when you called me babe for the first time?’’ Baekhyun then wags his eyebrows when he’s licked the back-side of Minseok’s palm and Minseok lets go.

 

The alpha looks up from his work with a solemn glare. ‘’Right before I bent you over the desk? I do,’’ he says with a smile likewise as smug, and Kyungsoo groans from his chair and throws a pillow at them.

 

He texts with Jongin some more, and Jongin says he’ll arrive tomorrow early as mentioned.

 

The omega slinks down under his duvets that night, eyes bleary but a smile on his face while Baekhyun scornfully yaps for him to turn off the sound so he won’t hear the whooshing and ping noises from the phone whenever Jongin texts back.

 

Good things might come along, but that doesn’t the strange feeling in Kyungsoo’s stomach when he thinks about Taemin’s earlier words.

 

‘’ _ He hasn’t told you yet?’’ _

 

He would’ve taken it straight to the heart if he hadn’t already talked to Jongin before and gotten a bit to know about his nature and being. 

 

But he remembers what Baekhyun said as well after the party.

 

_ ‘’Jongin said there was a problem.’’ _

 

Kyungsoo does, however, know that he’s got Jongin a little closer now, and the uncertainty from before doesn’t lower itself, but is dimmed a bit when he knows they’re on less unstable ground.

 

During the next day, the hours seem to snail past.

 

Kyungsoo ends up staring out the window for most of the time or spaces out in daydreams, even if he’s got a lot to catch up on due to his earlier absence. There’s some upcoming projects as well, so he has to slap his cheeks and focus on what’s ahead, and he’s got Yifan next to him who sometimes nudges his shoulder when the concentration slips.

 

He can’t get Jongin out of his mind.

 

Now that an upcoming heat isn’t nagging, the communication will be so much easier.

 

They could go for walks when projects aren’t piling up

 

They could visit cafés together, or share warm hugs and get to know each other better.

 

They could share secret looks through dance practice.

 

They could watch dramas together, and maybe kiss some if Jongin would be okay with that.

 

They could—

 

‘’Hey, Kyungsoo,’’ Yifan nudges his shoulder again, and Kyungsoo shakes his head and nods exaggeratedly, ‘’I was— I’m listening,’’ he tries, slurring the words.

 

So really, Kyungsoo’s eyes dart around afterwards, and now a strange nervousness wells up. 

 

What if it won’t be the same now that the heat-filter is gone? 

 

What if Jongin might’ve changed his mind about dating once things are different?

 

They haven’t sent texts since midnight, after all, so Kyungsoo has no idea what he’s up to.

 

But maybe Jongin is occupied, right? That must be it.

 

Kyungsoo sighs as he slinks into the last lesson of this schedule. It’s been a long day with no sight of the alpha.

 

He goes up the banter with heavy footsteps, and chooses a random place to sit when his knees tell him they can do no more, huffing out.

 

He picks a seat along the rows and flumps his torso down onto the desk, resting his head on one of his books, tucking it under his chin in a dull manner.

 

‘’Rough night?’’ a voice says next to him, knuckles knocking on the table in a little rhythm.

Kyungsoo blearily opens his eyes, though what he feels first is an arm wrapping around his waist as he’s dragged over the seat along the prolonged bench, torso raised with the change as a warm breath fans over a little patch of skin followed by a kiss on his temple.

The arm stays there and it’s Jongin who Kyungsoo has coincidentally ended up sitting  next to. It’s Jongin who now sits almost hip to hip with the omega, his arm still around the younger and a hand petting his hip, some fingers momentarily touching the lower abdomen where the shirt has ridden up.

Kyungsoo’s breath is caught in his throat, and he looks up, blinking his eyes while he points around and then at Jongin, ‘’You’re—?’’ 

‘’Shared class, remember?’’ Jongin says, his voice a little lower, more like a hush as their faces are close, and there’s a somewhat fond smile on his face that he doesn’t seem to display often. It’s like he’s really happy to see Kyungsoo, mesmerized when he actually laughs at Kyungsoo’s dumbfounded expression.

‘’Got here an hour ago,’’ the alpha supplies. 

Kyungsoo’s mouth closes and opens like that of a goldfish before a mellow, wobbly smile spreads on his lips. The nervousness ebbs away with the atmosphere that raises around them, and with how good it feels to have Jongin’s hand on his hip.

Jongin looks refreshed as well, just like Kyungsoo. 

His hair is swept more nicely than the usual, messy as always in some way nonetheless, and he’s wearing some ripped jeans, sneakers and a hoodie. The snakebite piercing moves a bit when he smiles, and one ink drawn hand reaches out to poke at Kyungsoo’s book so it doesn’t fall off the edge.

It’s one where on the knuckles it says ‘S I C K’, and Kyungsoo puts the puzzle together with the other as well— ‘H O M E S I C K’ spelled out on his hands.

‘’I…,’’ Kyungsoo starts, and he’s not sure what to say, a little caught in the way Jongin is rubbing a soothing pattern into the skin beneath his shirt, and how he doesn’t break the eye contact. A little caught in the way they sit close, not kissing or anything, but just staring at each other as if they don’t notice that the teacher has just walked in and demands their attention.

‘’I’m happy to see you,’’ he murmurs, honest, and realizes he’s got a hand on Jongin’s thigh, just comfortably lingering there, fingers drumming.

Jongin’s throat bobs. ‘’You too,’’ he answers. ‘’Doing okay?’’ he’s whispering now, might’ve noticed the teacher is talking and someone looked their way.

Kyungsoo barely notices that different pair of eyes flicker back on them, most likely perplexed regarding the innocent intimacy. ‘’Yeah,’’ he whispers back. 

‘ _ So much for casual dating _ ’, Kyungsoo thinks, exactly when Jongin leans in, eyes half-lidded and his hold tightening a bit, and he smells so good, like a warm cup of tea and the first day of spring but also this spicy scent as well that makes a blaze flare within Kyungsoo’s stomach, which isn’t really supposed to happen like that unless he’s—

‘’ **_Jongin_ ** ,’’ a third voice enters, the rusty but demanding voice of the professor, ‘’and Jongin’s  _ boyfriend _ ,’’ he addresses them both, but only knows Jongin’s name since he always has to correct Jongin for his direct language.  

Kyungsoo jolts in his seat, and Jongin looks up, brows furrowing. 

The rest of the classroom is staring at them, including the teacher, who looks very much used to this behavior from prior college students and lovesick fools. ‘’I’d like if you took this outside the class,’’ he says. 

Jongin and Kyungsoo share a quick glance, and Kyungsoo is frozen on the spot, half-smiling and grimacing, while Jongin’s cheeks have gotten a little color but not much, though from a distance he merely looks like he’d eat the professor up in one munch right on the spot.

‘’Right,’’ he says, voice dry, and turns his body to the front, which act Kyungsoo mirrors.

The professor keeps staring. 

He clears his throat.

‘’Please.... sit with at least with a half meter’s distance from each other.’’

Jongin actually bares his teeth a bit at this, but complies nonetheless, slowly, while Kyungsoo stares down at his lap and feels many, many glares bore into his skull, needing to withdraw his hands. He nearly sighs unhappily when Jongin’s arm leaves as well.

‘’More.’’

Jongin emits a small growl but complies. He folds his hands in front of his mouth, elbows on the desk, while he glares ahead with eyes that no one wants to meet.

This has happened before to other couples with some protesting and quirky comments included, but people might just not have thought of seeing  **_Kai_ ** coddling a counterpart, and maybe not a mundane-looking omega like Kyungsoo, whose eyes are so wide right now in embarrassment they might roll out of their sockets. 

‘’Sorry… about that,’’ they stand outside class, and now it’s a little awkward, maybe because in class it had been like they were drawn to each other like magnets, but they were called out on it.Kyungsoo stands still with his hands clutching the straps of his bag while Jongin before him has his folded over his crotch.

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to stand still though. He wants to lean forward and drag his cheek from Jongin’s chest up to his face and snuggle into his throat and get his scent rubbed all over. But that might be a little too soon, right?

‘’It’s okay, really,’’ he says, can’t help but to grin, and rubs a heel into the ground.

‘’Yeah,’’ Jongin says, eyes darting around and then back at Kyungsoo, and his fingers are twitching a bit. 

He smells really, really good, just like he did before, and Kyungsoo isn’t sure if he understands why. The tension is supposed to have ebbed out, though, it’s more comfortable between them now.

‘’Tonight,’’ the alpha suddenly bids in. 

‘’Tonight?’’ Kyungsoo repeats, voice becoming breathy.

Jongin meets his gaze. ‘’I could....,’’ he shifts on his feet, ‘’I could teach you what you’ve missed… regarding dance practice and that shit,’’ he murmurs. 

‘’I mean—’’ he starts, hand tugging in his sleeves, revealing more of his dark tattoos scribbling up his forearms, ‘’I mean I haven’t been here either but I know the schedule. Practiced at home.’’

Kyungsoo has to comprehend the innuendo at first, and then he nearly startles, making Jongin blink his eyes in surprise with the: ‘’ **_yes_ ** !’’

He holds a hand over his mouth and shrinks a bit. ‘’Uh, I mean,yes, yes I’d like that.’’

This earns a smile on Jongin’s lips, one of those private ones. The alpha nods then. ‘’Alright,’’ he says. ‘’So, meet up where we’ve done it before? Around eight?’’ 

‘ _ Where we’ve done it before _ ,’ Kyungsoo repeats inside his mind. 

‘’Let’s do that.’’

They stare at each other. 

None of them move, so Kyungsoo nods at last and smiles, makes a meek handwave. ‘’See you then,’’ he says, not knowing where they are just yet despite sweet words.

Just then, Jongin steps forward, a hand curling around Kyungsoo’s wrist. 

Kyungsoo looks up, and they both stare some more.

Jongin leans in, eyes half-lidded like before, but this time they aren’t interrupted when the distance is closed, and their lips meet in a soft press.

It makes a gentle sound, something delicate, and their breaths mingle when they don’t move their faces.

Kyungsoo steals another one then, a longer but still chaste kiss, and then it’s Jongin who does it, and the omega is drawn to how warm and nice it is, the same itch from before bumping against his ribs from inside.

‘’Not in the halls either!’’ the professor from before passes by, papers held in the air in accusation, and Jongin growls after him, and Kyungsoo notices how close the both of them now stand, folded into each other. 

And, people are staring again, so Kyungsoo clears his throat and removes himself.

Jongin looks back, and they share a soft smile.

‘’See you,’’ he says, this time giving Kyungsoo a kiss on the cheek. He doesn’t walk away, but is the one who watches as Kyungsoo stumbles ahead and nods, the omega repeatedly looking back until he rounds the corner and they separate.

‘’So you’re having a date, is that it?’’ Baekhyun is in the middle of reading a book, doing an essay too, but apparently he has enough external energy to regard Kyungsoo when the omega is changing his clothes with a smile that might split his face in two.

‘’It’s not…,’’ Kyungsoo stops amidst it, scrunching his nose up. ‘’It’s not a date, I guess,’’ he trails off, ‘’...or is it?’’ his heart flutters and that blaze comes again. He holds a hand over his stomach, momentarily perplexed.

It’s as if that heat has been crawling up his legs again, and he can’t wait to have some time alone with Jongin again, like back in the café.

Baekhyun lowers his glasses and gives Kyungsoo a long, well-known stare. ‘’Maybe he’s finally decided to deflower your princess hole in the traditional dancer way,’’ he says in a professor-like voice. His voice lowers: ‘’ **_in the dance studio through the horizontal tango_ ** .’’

Kyungsoo knocks his feet into the leg of the desk, and oh, he wishes.

‘’No,’’ he says, voice rather high-pitched, laughing, ‘’he wouldn’t, really…’’ 

‘’But you wish he would.’’

‘’No I wouldn’t.’’ 

‘’Yes you would.’’

‘’No.’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’No.’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’N- okay! Yes, I want him to tear me in two with his  **_big fat cock_ ** ,’’ Kyungsoo sighs the aggressions out and flops on the bed. 

‘’But we should get to know each other first! I can’t just—,’’ he makes wild motions with his hands and the prick-a-hole motion, and Baekhyun has turned around on his chair, looking amused.

‘’I can’t just… ask him like that. I tried… at the party and all that. We barely know each other,  **right!** I shouldn’t want to fuck him already. I’m just… a sack of hormones,’’ his arms flop down too. ‘’I’m the worst, aren’t I?’’

‘’Maybe he’s the type who wants us to get married first before we have sex,’’ he lets out whimper.

Baekhyun chortles. ‘’Maybe,’’ he says, ‘’he’s just holding himself back? You know, Jongin is twenty-one and all that. He knows how to say no, and he hasn’t  _ said no _ , as far as I know. I’m  **telling you** , that boy is hungry for some Soo steak, alright? I know a hungry stare when I see one,’’ he points at Kyungsoo. ‘’Even if it’s been weeks.’’

‘’So therefore, seduce him.’’

‘’It’s too early!’’ Kyungsoo interrupts, and Baekhyun shushes him.

‘’Too early? Minseok and I talked the first time through a supposed one-night stand!’’

‘’But that’s diff—’’

‘’Try it, at least. No one says you  _ have _ to have sex already. You don’t even have to have sex now, I’m just saying that if you do it now, it’s okay. Just…. do whatever feels right, okay? I mean, you need to remember we are basically driven by hormones when we meet a compatible partner. Shed your human logic, because this is the reptile-brain talking, your wolf.’’

Baekhyun continues, ‘’it seems like for so long you’ve tried to escape from our biological nature altogether, from mating, attraction, reactions and demeanor. Just— accept it! You want to be fucked?  **_Fine_ ** . It’s okay, you’re an omega too and you’ve found a hot piece of alpha who treats you right, and it looks like your hormones match real damn good! Fuck timeline. You want that dick? You go get that dick.’’

Kyungsoo glares dagger all of sudden. ‘’Why am I always being lectured by everyone.’’

‘’Because you’re a dense motherfucker! Now go beat that stud up.’’ 

‘’ **_Beat him up_ ** ?’’

‘’In the romantic way, of course!’’

‘’In what way is that—’’

‘’Beat him up, Kyungsoo! Drag him by the hair and show him who’s the boss!’’ 

‘’But—’’

‘’Show him who’s got the pants on!’’

‘’Yes, I mean—’’

‘’ **_Show him you can ride his dick till sunrise_ ** !’’

‘’ **_Yes_ ** !’

‘’Beat him up!’’ 

‘’Yes, I’m gonna,I’m gonna beat him up good!’’ Kyungsoo slams a fist in his palm and looks very determined, though he shortly thinks he’s not sure if the conversation regarded his hormone-drive or the act of being deflowered.

When Kyungsoo  walks out moments later with his dance clothes on, Chanyeol, who stands in the hallway, looks at him with a terrified expression.

Baekhyun leans out just then, yelling a ‘’ **_Remember to use protection_ ** !’’

Kyungsoo has nearly trekked all the way to the dance studio with so much vigor and determination in his mind he barely hears the ‘’Hey’’ from his side when he goes through the new department.

He jumps slightly and looks to the side and spots Jongin who leans against the wall with a bemused expression on his face. Something about his demeanor has eased down as well, as if he’s become more comfortable with Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo briefly thinks back on their talk in the café but also about the kisses they shared just some hours ago.

He immediately feels a twinge down to his roots when he remembers what his mouth has been spouting just some mere minutes ago considering how innocent things between them seem when they’re just alone now. He offers Jongin a smile that’s a little too eager and a ‘’hey,’’, his fire dimming and another jitter surfacing.

Jongin steps closer, wearing some shorts and a muscle shirt. ‘’You look like you have something on your mind,’’ the alpha bids, and this time the atmosphere is easy. 

Kyungsoo can’t help but  grin, ‘’yeah,’’ he says, ‘’had an… interesting conversation with Baek.’’

Jongin smiles too, and it’s so strange. He goes from looking like a brute to have his eyes crinkling at the corners like a child, and Kyungsoo is just so struck—so stupidly  _ in love _ .

It’s so strange to see how Jongin has changed from the café visit to now even if Kyungsoo has been knocked out. Though,Kyungsoo figures it must’ve been the conversation there. Jongin has gone through some things and insecurities in his head as well.

They head into the dance room once Jongin has unlocked it, and from there the rest goes on in an easy manner. There’s some occasional touching, elbows bumping when they put their stuff and water bottles down next to each other, sharing small eye-smiles.

Small talk here and there to fill in the empty spaces not forced— just comfortable.

‘’Why’d you go home, though?’’ Kyungsoo asks amidst it as Jongin puts on some music. 

Jongin looks over his shoulder, and Kyungsoo is almost caught in how he’s watched the tattoos unfold down the alpha’s biceps, his shoulders and bit of his back.

‘’Ah, that,’’ Jongin raises himself, tonguing the inside of his cheek. ‘’I went into a rut, I guess,’’ he murmurs, walking forward, and there’s something about his stride, his squared shoulders, the slow steps and the thunk when his feet land that makes Kyungsoo’s stomach flare from the inside again.

Jongin keeps the eye contact when they stand before each other again. ‘’It was cloudy and all. I was beyond fucked in my mind for a moment there,’’ he says, language rough but voice soft and tender, and he does that thing again, curling a hand around Kyungsoo’s bicep, running a hand there. ‘’It’s been awhile since I’ve visited my parents, so I got there and I… had some things talked through too.’’

Kyungsoo has many questions, too many on the tip of his tongue, but he’s not sure if he can allow himself this yet.

‘’Did I trigger you?’’ 

Jongin’s jaw sets, and he nods, but he chuckles too. ‘’I was actually told to go home and cool my head.’’

Kyungsoo blinks. ‘’Really?’’

The fingers nip at Kyungsoo’s shirt. ‘’Mh-mm…’’

Jongin’s closer than before, and they end up like this almost too easily, nose tips nearly touching as the alpha hovers over Kyungsoo, bending his neck a little. 

This is where Kyungsoo realizes that the song in the background is not even the one they’re practicing for, and it’s slow and almost sensual, RnB. 

The hands on Kyungsoo’s form grasp at him and Jongin steps closer, this time lining them up for a dance.

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows arch, ‘’wait, I only know solo dancing-’’

‘’I’ll guide you, dummy,’’ Jongin nips at the bridge of his nose and Kyungsoo growls softly at him, the sound slipping out in a playful way.

It’s cozy and private inside the dancing room, or so it’s become, even if there are mirrors everywhere and Kyungsoo keeps marvelling at their forms together— the way they move.  The dance is easy enough with their feet moving in synchronized steps.

There’s a few times Kyungsoo steps on Jongin’s feet though, where Jongin muffles a small  grin and Kyungsoo pretends to bite him or nonchalantly says he’s just testing the waters.

Their bodies are close, but it’s so comfortable. 

The way Kyungsoo is folded close to Jongin, the way a breath sometimes ghosts over the shell of his ear and there’s their steady breathing, the music and just the two of them.

Suddenly, Jongin leans in, his mouth against the side of Kyungsoo’s throat. He’s held back or contained himself, Kyungsoo can tell, since the elder starts nosing there, suddenly inhaling deeply, scenting off.

‘’Tell me a story about yourself,’’ Jongin murmurs. ‘’A childhood memory.’’

Kyungsoo huddles closer so that their chests are lined. ‘’Uh,’’ he thinks back, and starts grinning dorkily when he catches one. 

‘’C’mon,’’ Jongin urges him, teeth grazing some skin, and Kyungsoo tries to ignore the surge down his spine and the way another scent rises in the air.

‘’Okay,’’ he starts. ‘’I think I was around seven,’’ he leans his face against Jongin’s shoulder too, breath sizzling on the exposed skin as he talks. ‘’And I really, really wanted a dog. But I wasn’t allowed, and both of my fathers have never liked them, meaning… I got pretty upset.’’

‘’I have two dogs, actually.’’

‘’ **_Two?’’_ **

‘’Jjangah and Monggu.’’

‘’You never told me!’’

‘’You never asked,’’ a playful puff.

Kyungsoo huffs. ‘’Well, but… the new neighbors had a puppy, right… so one day,’’ he mushes his face against Jongin’s collarbone and can’t help the puff, his shoulders shaking a bit when he laughs.

‘’One day what?’’ there’s a lighter tone in Jongin’s voice, like he’s simply smitten by Kyungsoo’s laughter.

‘’One day, I asked if I could take it out for a walk…., and I decided to kidnap it and walked to the outskirts of the city in protest. Like I sort of decided to move out with the dog and live on my own. I had packed a bag with biscuits and a blanket, and took 5 dollars from one of the jars in the kitchen,’’ he explains. 

‘’But on the way a police car drove by with the sirens on, and I had been told that bad people are fetched by them and go to jail, so naturally, I thought—’’ he stops, because Jongin is laughing now, and this is new as well. It’s stubbed and a bit dorky, a bright ‘ha-ha’ that doubles Kyungsoo’s grin.

‘’I thought I was a criminal, and I ran all the way home while crying,with the dog on leash, and it took an hour before I calmed down since I couldn’t stop wailing and kept saying they’d take me and I’d go to jail,’’ he finishes, doesn’t notice he’s nibbling on Jongin’s collarbone, gazing at the marked skin too.

He doesn’t realize the dancing has slowed down to a lighter dance, tightly fit together with Jongin whose face goes from the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck to the side of his face, mouth against his temple. 

‘’My papa took a picture of me and it’s still on the refrigerator, so you can see me all chubby-cheeks with snot and tears streaming down my face, and a small dog on leash who whined along with me,’’ Kyungsoo adds.

Jongin chuckles. 

‘’Cute,’’ he says.

Kyungsoo grumbles. ‘’I’m not.’’

‘’The cutest,’’ Jongin finishes, and Kyungsoo’s cheeks might strain.

‘’Hey,’’ the omega pokes Jongin at the side. ‘’Your turn.’’

‘’Really?’’

‘’Really. It’s cheating if you back out.’’ 

The elder huffs, but relents. ‘’Alright,’’ one of his hands dive down Kyungsoo’s lower back, resting there, fingers splaying, and Kyungsoo sighs contently.

‘’My older sisters always dressed me up when I was younger, even when I was twelve,’’ he starts, and Kyungsoo is smiling already.

‘’They styled my hair and put elastic bands in it, pigtails and all that, and called me Jonginnie because they wanted a younger sister since I was so frail,’’ he explains, and there’s humor in his voice, but also something else.

Kyungsoo senses it. He traces a pattern with some fingers along Jongin’s spine through the shirt. ‘’Were you made fun of by others?’’ he asks, voice soft.

Jongin is quiet for a moment, holding his breath.

‘’Yeah.’’

He nuzzles closer. ‘’I was a ballet boy too. At first I didn’t mind it when my sisters dressed me up. But others did through time. I didn’t really care at first. Then other people started calling me Jonginnie too, and even when I was fifteen I still hadn’t had my spur of growth yet, and I was still too small. People mocked me and pushed me, sometimes,’’ his voice is careful, a sigh seeping through. ‘’My sisters always had to defend me.’’

‘’I come from a rich family and all that privileged crap, and my dance career was my priority, and still is. But I chose to focus on ballet at first, though as I grew older I got into jazz and hip-hop too. I had a wide spread in interests, so even back then I liked different musics, tattoos and other things that didn’t fit a small pretty-looking boy, or someone assumed to be so… weak. Because… stereotypes, and all that.’’

They don’t stop dancing, and they’re still glued together, small steps at a time.

‘’So over summer after I turned sixteen, my status as an alpha set its mark once my body changed. I suddenly grew out of my old skin and…. puberty basically knocked me into the concrete, head-first,’’ he chuckles, and it eases the atmosphere when Kyungsoo mutters a ‘’puberty is a ruthless piece of ass...’’

‘’Yeah. I don’t know if I mind. Then again, I’m just… I’m just angry with the stereotypes back then. Those who’re still here now. Everyone called me an omega, day in and out. They all thought I’d become one, because I was introverted too. A quiet kid. And I’m sort of angry that they’d… they’d lower the status omega. That it’s considered lucky to many that I became an alpha instead and grew muscle quick and suddenly looked like a different person. Because otherwise my interests just didn’t fit me, and all that.’’

Jongin’s speech pattern enters something else. Maybe the fine language he’d grown up with, what he’s tried to break. 

He licks his lips and makes a considering noise. ‘’Through time I changed to become the opposite of what I was back then. I’m still the same deep down, I guess, but I’m stronger. And I don’t regret getting inked and all that, even if it was spontaneous. You should’ve seen my parent’s faces back then,’’ he laughs, and Kyungsoo makes a wheezy sound, since he’s already got a picture of what a ballet boy’s parents might think of that. 

‘’They were actually cool with it,’’ Jongin offers, and they detach a bit to look at each other. 

‘’After a year, at least’’ he adds, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

‘’Then-’’ Kyungsoo takes Jongin’s hand and brushes some fingers over the knuckles. ‘’What’s this supposed to mean?  _ Homesick _ ?’’ 

Jongin grants it a look. ‘’Ah,’’ he raises one brow. 

‘’I guess it’s because I’ve always been mom’s boy, you know? I’ve always been a careful, quiet kid. I relied a lot on my parents and sisters, and making me join events, school or sports weren’t easy. I just wanted to dance.’’ 

He turns his hand. ‘’Even now, I miss being at home. Family means a lot to me,’’ he answers. ‘’It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? There should be something tragic or big behind it. But it’s just a trait, I guess, and t the comfort, though I’m getting out of it now. I’m changing, becoming who I want to be. I’ll always be stuck with my family, though. My dogs as well,’’ his gaze flicks up to meet Kyungsoo’s.

Kyungsoo shrugs. ‘’I don’t think it’s stupid. Tattoos are art, and they all carry different meanings. Sometimes they don’t even have to carry a meaning for them to be there, right? Your body, your choice,’’ he replies easily.

He smiles. ‘’I was also very dependent on my parents when I was a kid, and I guess I still am in some aspects. When I had been tough in public for too long I’d always come home and cry it out in either my dad or papa’s lap.’’ 

Jongin shifts on his feet. ‘’Reminds me…,’’ he says, and Kyungsoo looks interested.

‘’My parents want to meet you,’’ are the words, and Kyungsoo nearly falls over, not knowing how that’s even possible, but the shock is a brick to his face. 

‘’ **_Already_ ** ?’’

Jongin says an ‘ _ uh _ ’, and his lips thin in a line. ‘’I mean they said in time. In time, they want to meet you, because… because I’ve told them about you.’’

The words are sincere, but Kyungsoo fetches something else. Something Jongin isn’t saying, leaving out.

‘’Ah,’’ is what comes out of the omega’s mouth though a smile curls at one corner of his mouth, and he raises one brow and looks smug. ‘’So I can only assume you’ve said some good things?’’

And Jongin actually flusters, his eyes widen a bit while his lower lip shortly worries.  Kyungsoo  _ totally _ catches the act even though Jongin looks away and licks his lips, ‘uh’-ing again. For being so intimidating, he’s like a marshmallow in the middle beneath all the layers.

Kyungsoo’s laugh is almost victorious as he nips at Jongin’s throat and rubs his face there, and Jongin sighs the fluster away against the younger’s temple.

‘’Hey,’’ Kyungsoo then bids, and Jongin replies with a dull ‘ _ hmm _ .’

‘’Do you want children sometime?’’ 

And there’s a sound of sneakers squeaking over the floor when Jongin nearly topples them over, and they both flail a bit before regaining balance again since he almost took Kyungsoo with him.

‘’ **_Children_ ** ?’’ 

‘’Well- not- not with me! I mean, yes, maybe, if we﹘but﹘like﹘in the future! I just﹘ I’m asking if you’d like children in the future, with which.. whichever partner you have!’’ warmth spreads in Kyungsoo’s cheeks, and the question sounded at least ten times more casual in his head.

They still move around in small draws, and Jongin has both of his arms locked around Kyungsoo’s waist now, and Kyungsoo’s not sure how he’s ended up locking his own around Jongin’s neck.

‘’I,’’ Jongin gets a strange look in his eyes, and they’re close again in that strange way, foreheads almost bumping, ‘’I’ve always wanted to have children. Not—’’ he makes a jut with his eyebrows, ‘’not now. Shit, I wouldn’t… not now. But… in the future, definitely.’’ 

Kyungsoo overcomes the embarrassment from before, and instead their eyes lock in a gaze. ‘’Would you want a boy or a girl?’’

‘’I shouldn’t care about gender. As long as they’re my cub and I can be their dad and coddle them, I’m good.’’ 

Kyungsoo should almost be embarrassed at the half-squeak of adoration he lets out. ‘’No stereotypes?’’ 

Jongin smiles, and now their nose tips bump too. ‘’No stereotypes. If it’s a girl, then she can be a warrior or a princess, but she can also be both. Or a prince.’’ 

‘’If it’s a boy?’’

‘’No matter gender,’’ Jongin says, ‘’no matter what status they have,’’ he nuzzles his nose against Kyungsoo’s in a soft eskimo kiss, ‘’my first priority is for them to grow up in a safe and loving home.’’ 

Kyungsoo is silent for a while and they’re both smiling, the atmosphere around them snug and intimate. ‘’Maybe I’ll ask you to have my future children,’’ he says, and Jongin’s hold tightens a bit.

‘’Maybe?’’ Jongin murmurs, as if Kyungsoo’s supposed to have reeled already, though it’s playful and his breath is warm on the other’s lips.

They move in sync, just slowly, a sway of their bodies while one of Kyungsoo’s hands grab a tuft of hair on Jongin’s nape, running a palm there. 

‘’Maybe,’’ Kyungsoo replies, and he sees the way Jongin’s gaze darts down to his mouth and then up again a few couple of times.

It’s a soft touch, just a chaste kiss at first. They both close their eyes and the last thing Kyungsoo sees is that Jongin’s brows arch a bit, almost in relief when he angles his head and their lips meet.

The buzz that has been in the background for now starts to run along Kyungsoo’s back, from his stomach to his thighs and up to his head and then down again. His grip tightens, he holds on when another little smack comes from their lips detaching and uniting, when Jongin eases a deep sound into Kyungsoo’s mouth and Kyungsoo can’t help the sharp inhale he makes, or how his lips part to give the other access.

Fingers tangle in his shirt on his back, Jongin who inches closer if even possible, and runs the tip of his tongue along Kyungsoo’s lower lip, the action earning him a soft moan and a sweet scent erupting in the room.

The atmosphere isn’t supposed to get this riled up. Kyungsoo knows there’s something odd about the way he can already feel slick start to spread between his buttocks, wetting the material of his loose shorts since he’s not wearing boxers, his hole throbbing. He knows Jongin shouldn’t smell  _ that _ good to him after a heat, when the hormones are supposed to have calmed down. 

His stomach convulses under the shirt when a cold piercing grazes his own tongue, just as the kiss deepens and wet noises come from their tongues rubbing together. Jongin dives in almost as if he seeks to feed off on Kyungsoo’s warmth and replace it with his own.

Jongin’s hands become a bit rowdier, but Kyungsoo’s do too. It’s as if the pheromones start to crowd the room, crawling up their forms as Kyungsoo helplessly fists Jongin’s shirt on the back and drags up in it to get closer, locking a vice around Jongin’s neck with his arms.

Something within him bristles and croons when a growl seeps out of Jongin’s mouth, the alpha’s teeth momentarily bared while he nips at Kyungsoo’s upper lip and his breath puffs hotly into his mouth, and Kyungsoo can feel something prominent dig into his hip.

‘’And you said﹘’’ Kyungsoo suddenly starts, breathless between the kisses,‘’we should take it slow and get to,’’ there’s a smile on his lips but also a grimace, because the heat in his stomach starts to sizzle, and his nails dig and search, ‘’know each other first,’’ he finishes.

They stop for a moment, lips swollen and red from kissing, and Jongin’s nostrils are flaring, a vein tracking down his forehead, teeth bared again to form a little snarl. ‘’You’re right, we should,’’ he says, but his actions are contrary to his words. 

‘’We should take it slow,’’ he says, voice rough, and he’s hovering over Kyungsoo now, having crammed the omega a little down and into himself from how they’re lined together and they can both feel how aroused the other is.

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer but tiptoes and kisses Jongin hard, and Jongin groans, the hold he’s got bruising. ‘’Just a bit more,’’ Kyungsoo begs, voice soft. 

They sink to their knees, and Kyungsoo can’t even comprehend that he’s lying flat on his back now on the hard, yellowish floor while Jongin is between his legs. He’s lounging over as they keep nipping and kissing, breathy groans coming from both sides. ‘’Just a bit more,’’ Kyungsoo keeps saying as Jongin contributes with the same: ‘’just a bit...’’

Jongin’s sneakers squeak against the floor from how he’s pressing the tip of his sneakers there, and he runs a hand down Kyungsoo’s lower back under the omega, hoisting his lower half up to let their groins meet in the air so that Kyungsoo’s heels dig into the ground as well to keep his lower parts up.

The half of his back is off the ground, thighs flexing from the mild strain since Jongin holds almost all of the weight, and Kyungsoo’s shoulder-blades press into the ground. The back of his head is digging into the hard surface too.

Pliant noises bubble up his throat once Jongin makes a jut with his pelvis, rutting against him, and they almost move in a strange rhythm that presses Kyungsoo further ahead the polished floor when Jongin reels closer.

Jongin’s got a hand on the spot next to Kyungsoo’s head to support his own weight, using it as leverage, his knuckles whitening even more for each time he picks up more force and thrusts into Kyungsoo’s front, grounding against the underside of Kyungsoo’s buttocks, thighs and crotch, grinding through the dapped material of the shorts.

‘’Not too much,’’ Jongin groans, and their chests are still lined together, faces close since Kyungsoo’s still got his arms around Jongin’s neck, and Jongin is hunched over him, on his knees. 

‘’Why?’’ Kyungsoo is breathless but he manages nonetheless, and his in- and exhaling speeds up when the hand on his back that holds him up travels a little lower, fingers sneaking beneath the back of the shorts. 

Jongin is panting against his mouth and gives it another nip, ‘’I won’t be able to hold back,’’ he growls, his eyes flashing a golden, demanding color for a brief second.

‘’You shouldn’t.’’ 

Another kiss, a loud moan when Jongin makes one harsh movement and presses Kyungsoo’s torso further into the ground, and Kyungsoo’s thighs and legs are starting to tremble.

‘’I should.’’

His septum scrapes a bit too from the frantic but indulgent make out, and Kyungsoo must already look like a wreck with how he can feel his lips simmer, heat crawling over his cheeks and down his throat, everywhere in his body. It’s similar to the warmth during a heat, but still not the same. This is a different crave, and he really﹘

‘’Want you inside me,’’ he whimpers, and Jongin stops moving.

‘’Please, just a bit﹘ just the tip﹘’’ Kyungsoo’s words wobble and he’s still tugging at Jongin, drawing far up in his shirt now on the back. ‘’Please, please, just a bit, give me a little bit,’’ he begs. 

There’s a scent rising in the air, aside from the sweet smell of Kyungsoo’s slick and the combined pheromones of arousal. 

Kyungsoo finds himself drawn up again so that he half-sits on Jongin’s thigh, and they’re interlocked, both sitting on their shins and knees. Kyungsoo’s crotch grinds against Jongin’s muscular thigh where the shorts have ridden up too.

His shorts are tenting, the bulge big, pressing against Kyungsoo’s upper-thigh, a wet stain there. Jongin must’ve not worn underwear either.

The scent swarming the air is different—one Kyungsoo hasn’t smelled before. It’s demanding, musky and so, so good, and he’s not sure what it is he’s calling out for when he starts nosing at Jongin’s throat and ruts against his thigh.

He arches his back and heightens the pace when the fingers on his back skirt beneath his shorts, two fingers immediately sliding down the split of his asscheeks to trace the rim twice before pressing in hard. 

The breach makes Kyungsoo tilt his head back, thrashing a bit until the other arm around him locks him in place, and the fingers inside him are ruthless, fucking him good, a third added seconds later until he is keening and bouncing on Jongin’s lap, his shorts drawn down beneath his buttocks.

He’s wet all over, and the slick has tracked down his thighs too, wetting Jongin as well.

The alpha doesn’t seem to mind though, with the fingers being gone for some seconds when he brings them up to his own mouth and licks the cream off, sucking till his cheeks hollow as he groans around the mouthful.

Edging forward, he then licks a naughty stripe up Kyungsoo’s throat and grazes his teeth there, his fingers returning to probe, palm giving one asscheek a rough squeeze and a drag that makes both jiggle.

‘’Just a bit more,’’ Kyungsoo murmurs into the elder’s ear then, eyes closed and mouth parted for the pretty noises easing out. 

There’s too many sensations, with his own erection chafing against the material of his shorts as they’re dragged even more down, straining. His body moves with the finger-fucking, and one of his hands runs down from Jongin’s shoulder to the alpha’s crotch, hefting onto the edge to drag it down, though there’s not much space for him to do so.

Jongin’s cock springs up between them, curving against the dark fabric of his shirt. The head is glossed with pre-cum, and the shaft is thick and lengthy, as big as it felt back at the party, veins tracking down the velvety skin, and the strange but enticing scent from before is amplified.

What catches Kyungsoo’s eyes though is the momentary gleam in his view, and he swallows thickly as his gaze traces the three horizontal, small piercings along the back of the shaft, not a frenum ladder with the distance—one under the cockhead, one in the middle and one lower. 

It doesn’t change the drive though, as Kyungsoo immediately wraps a hand around the base and hears how Jongin lets out a content, deep noise against the skin beneath his ear.

Kyungsoo feels dizzy in the head, and his hand moves on its own, fingers tracing the piercings just momentarily to which Jongin’s hips jerk a bit, and Kyungsoo starts doing back and forth motions with his small palm.

He can’t take his eyes off Jongin’s cock, how cum beads on the slit when he presses down hard on the crown and rubs along the frame, how that smell grows stronger and stronger, and the cockhead seems a bit swollen compared to what’s normal, almost as if...

Jongin has inched some skin in between his teeth on Kyungsoo’s neck and bites down, just as his fingers drill deeper and he keeps them inside. He spreads them obscenely while Kyungsoo’s eyes start to glaze, and he keeps pumping out lubrication, like his body is expecting to be claimed outside a heat period.

His view blurs when he’s turned around again, manhandled onto his knees and hands, his ass sticks out, his mouth like cotton because he can’t shape any coherent words anymore, save for some gasping and garbled pleas.

He feels his shorts get dragged all the way down until they strain around the bend of his knees, his cock hanging and his hole fluttering while he presses back against the palm on one asscheek.

But what he gets is a wet feeling along the start of his asscrack, Jongin’s tongue and the cold patch from his piercing dragging down and over the puckered hole, down to the sack and up again. 

There’s a hand crawling in between Kyungsoo’s legs, stroking his cock while Jongin’s mouth and tongue laps up the wetness, the tongue tip breaching, the piercing catching on the rim once or twice.

‘’Jongin,’’ Kyungsoo mumbles amidst it, sluggish and starry eyed, and he’s so close, but this is not enough.

He presses his ass back and lowers his torso and splays his arms out for further support to curve his back, looking over his shoulder with glazed eyes. ‘’Please,’’ he murmurs, ‘’just a bit more,’’ he hiccups; a quick inhale of air, ‘’just the tip,’’ he pleads.

He can see Jongin behind him, who now raises himself a bit, his chin and the area around his mouth wet and glistening with transparent slick until he wipes it away with his other hand, licking his lips. He lets go of Kyungsoo’s cock too, and he lounges there a bit, hands on the back of each thigh. 

‘’It’s not a good idea,’’ he says, and Kyungsoo doesn’t understand that, but he presses back anyway, inches back on his knees so that Jongin’s cock touches the split, cold piercings grazing.

Something must’ve turned in Jongin’s head, because his jaw is setting and he takes one last shaky breath before grabbing his shaft, lining his cock up. Kyungsoo’s chest starts heaving up and down frantically when Jongin rubs it against the hole, not pressing in yet. 

The omega is not sure if he has ever felt like this before, like he’s ready to be mounted. 

But he presses back, cheek pressed against the floor while he starts stroking himself all the while, wanting relief and so much more, and Jongin’s not moving, but keeps hovering there, teeth gritted like he’s holding back.

Yet he breaches.

Just with the head, but the width is enough to have Kyungsoo scrunching his eyes shut and his thighs clenching, though he continues to press back anyway, and Jongin has to keep him in place.

The cockhead slides in, and the stretch is obscene but good﹘there’s just some more missing, but Jongin won’t give him that.

The alpha is panting, and he’s jerking himself off, the slick sound of his hand working echoing in Kyungsoo’s ears along with his own touches. ‘’Please,’’ Kyungsoo’s voice is garbled now, and his sight is turning blurry. 

But Jongin doesn’t give in, and his hold on Kyungsoo’s hip is harsh, nails digging in while he continues stroking himself although the head is buried inside Kyungsoo, and he inches even more inside after a while, but not much. 

The pheromones are suffocating, and Kyungsoo feels blind on them. His back is curved finely as Jongin’s breath hitches. 

The alpha stills for a moment, his nose crinkling in small tics and the musky scent doubling its intensity before dissipating, like it’s contained, and then Jongin moves again, though it feels like the breach is a bit bigger than before and his eyes are flashing, as well as Kyungsoo’s.

A mellow and practiced groan comes from Jongin’s mouth when he does a small arch, cumming seconds later. Kyungsoo feels warm inside even if it’s not enough. He follows soon after, shuddering when ropes of cum drip onto the ground beneath him, some getting on his shirt too from the position.

Jongin coats Kyungsoo’s insides all the while, but he takes his time, like he’s got an extra load and continues to arch there, rigid for a while as he breathes out and closes his eyes. 

Kyungsoo’s eyes bulge though and he lets out a surprised hitch when Jongin suddenly slides all the way in, piercings adding to the breach, thrusting into the wet mess he’s made. He stays there and presses down on Kyungsoo, hovering over him on all four then while he noses at Kyungsoo’s nape and murmurs a small ‘’sorry,’’ but also sounds relieved for some reason.

He stays there, buried inside for a moment, grinding so hard that Kyungsoo is lowered on the floor and pressed there till Jongin’s front is lined against his back. Kyungsoo’s knees make an uncomfortable sound when the skin around the kneecaps slide over the floor, but he feels too good to complain.

There’s still something missing though, is what his omega whines and scratches with from the inside for a brief moment. But he’s full of Jongin, who suddenly tenses again and thrusts in, his stomach convulsing as if he’s cumming again, slumping in the aftermath. 

Kyungsoo’s omega is satisfied for now nonetheless, and so he is himself. He breathes out and has his arms stretched out, making a lazy, dry sound.

The playlist in the background burned out minutes ago, so now it’s quiet.

He’s turned around. Jongin withdraws, and the omega whines when he pulls out. 

Jongin turns Kyungsoo onto his back and takes him in with his eyes, sliding in again a moment later while he then lays himself atop the other and embraces him, rubbing his face along his throat, thrusting mellowly into the wet slide as if it’s not to gain pleasure but to get closer and to ensure comfort and proximity. Jongin shouldn’t be able to go on outside a rut.

But Kyungsoo’s slick keeps trickling out too, and he accepts the kisses on his mouth even if he feels tired. He hums into the kiss and strokes some fingers through Jongin’s hair, and Jongin is almost purring like a satisfied alpha as he coddles Kyungsoo. 

Kyungsoo wants to ask, but he doesn’t, and he’s not sure why. It’s strange to fear rejection when they talked about cubs and a future just about half an hour ago. 

It’s not what he tastes though when Jongin aligns their lips and licks there in a playful manner. Kyungsoo is just happy to tuck his chin onto Jongin’s shoulder and hum against the shell of his ear afterwards with a playful but raspy ‘’Let’s take it slow was what you said,  _ right _ ?’’ to which Jongin chuckles.

 

Later that night, Kyungsoo wakes up from a buzz from his phone.

**From: KyutieKai** **ᕙ** **(** **⇀‸↼** **)** **ᕗ** **♥**

 

_ ‘I hope you’re having a good night’s sleep, Soo. Remember to take a morning after pill so there’s no trouble. The infirmary has them, and I’ve earlier made them set one aside for you and paid. Guess we lost our heads a bit, didn’t we? _

 

_ I was wondering if you’re free tomorrow after classes. We could go visit the café from before. Remember? _

 

_ There’s something I want to tell you.’ _

 

Kyungsoo shouldn’t need omega birth control pills unless he’s in heat, and he ends up staring at the screen for minutes.

 


End file.
